Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Lowers Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,820 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 86 shares during the quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $640,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 36.0% in the first quarter. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,708 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Yoder Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 3.9% in the first quarter. Yoder Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,312 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Park Capital Management LLC WI boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 12.9% in the first quarter. Park Capital Management LLC WI now owns 2,288 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. CV Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the first quarter valued at $597,000. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 3.3% in the first quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,733 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Broadcom from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.09.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 56,310 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.75, for a total transaction of $14,176,042.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 361,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,117,639.75. The trade was a 13.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.91, for a total transaction of $29,782,175.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,014,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,489,182.32. This trade represents a 10.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 875,444 shares of company stock worth $172,097,492. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Broadcom stock opened at $253.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 95.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.11. Broadcom Inc. has a twelve month low of $128.50 and a twelve month high of $265.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $221.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 22.64% and a return on equity of 35.49%. Broadcom’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $10.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 20th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.39%.

Broadcom announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, April 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.