Mechanics Bank Trust Department Boosts Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department grew its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,683 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $3,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NCP Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 615.4% in the 2nd quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 465 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $747,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Interval Partners LP purchased a new position in Broadcom in the second quarter worth $5,820,000. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 17.1% in the second quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 796 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 91.6% during the second quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 12,449 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $19,988,000 after purchasing an additional 5,952 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 411.4% in the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 946 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,519,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Check Kian Low sold 48,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.35, for a total transaction of $11,296,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 113,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,606,317.50. This represents a 29.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Diane M. Bryant sold 15,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,464,352.80. The trade was a 69.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AVGO. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. 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. Mizuho raised their price objective on Broadcom from $245.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Broadcom to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.83.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $240.31 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $203.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $178.65. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 196.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.03. Broadcom Inc. has a twelve month low of $117.43 and a twelve month high of $251.88.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The business 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 business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 192.50%.

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.