Empirical Asset Management LLC Has $24.89 Million Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Empirical Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 48.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 107,339 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 34,894 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $24,885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVGO. Castleview Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 1,030.8% during the third quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 147 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Broadcom by 900.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 150 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its position in Broadcom by 1,323.1% during 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 period. Tsfg LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1,073.7% during the third quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 223 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 900.0% in the third quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 240 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $205.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $233.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Broadcom to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.83.

Broadcom Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $237.44 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $200.93 and its 200-day moving average is $177.60. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $112.19 and a 1-year high of $251.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 193.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.03.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 191.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Broadcom news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 12,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.62, for a total transaction of $2,886,323.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 325,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,728,221.66. This trade represents a 3.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Diane M. Bryant sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.68, for a total transaction of $3,400,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,464,352.80. This represents a 69.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Broadcom Company Profile

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.