Vicus Capital Trims Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Vicus Capital lowered its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 21.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,698 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 982 shares during the period. Vicus Capital’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Castleview Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 1,030.8% during the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 147 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 900.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 150 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 1,323.1% in the 3rd quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 185 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVGO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $245.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $205.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Diane M. Bryant sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.68, for a total value of $3,400,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,464,352.80. This represents a 69.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total transaction of $1,569,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,308,000. This represents a 17.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $233.04 on Monday. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.76 and a fifty-two week high of $251.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $1.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 190.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $226.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.33.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Broadcom’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is 191.87%.

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.