Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Has $350,000 Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 920.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,031 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,832 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Broadcom by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,651,273 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $59,181,244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,462 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Broadcom by 858.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 18,369,841 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,168,798,000 after buying an additional 16,453,718 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Broadcom by 917.8% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,701,500 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,203,837,000 after buying an additional 11,453,554 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 855.4% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 12,674,158 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,186,292,000 after buying an additional 11,347,563 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in Broadcom by 1,045.4% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 8,273,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,427,120,000 after acquiring an additional 7,550,878 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Broadcom from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.79.

Broadcom Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $178.91 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $157.78. Broadcom Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.31 and a 1 year high of $186.42. The company has a market capitalization of $835.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 155.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.04. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $13.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were issued a $0.53 dividend. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is presently 184.19%.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.94, for a total value of $25,941,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,181,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,399,515.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.10, for a total value of $3,591,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 399,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,744,366. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 150,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.94, for a total value of $25,941,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,181,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,399,515.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 311,080 shares of company stock valued at $53,540,590. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Inc designs, develops, and supplies various semiconductor devices with a focus on complex digital and mixed signal complementary metal oxide semiconductor based devices and analog III-V based products worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Semiconductor Solutions and Infrastructure Software.