Abacus Planning Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,629 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 114 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Broadcom by 900.0% in the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 150 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its position in Broadcom by 1,323.1% in the third quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 185 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Broadcom by 900.0% in the third quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 240 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $218.61 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 178.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.02. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $119.76 and a 52 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $230.09 and a 200 day moving average of $190.11.

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

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. Broadcom’s payout ratio is 192.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Broadcom news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 45,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.96, for a total value of $10,798,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 842,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,246,926.56. The trade was a 5.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares in the company, valued at $7,308,000. This represents a 17.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVGO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on Broadcom from $245.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Broadcom from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.04.

Broadcom 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.