Meridian Wealth Management LLC Purchases 7,278 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 72,613 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 7,278 shares during the period. Broadcom accounts for 0.8% of Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $16,835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 6,283 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,457,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 2,841 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $659,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 5,310 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC now owns 3,082 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $715,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $694,000. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on AVGO shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.04.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other news, Director Check Kian Low sold 48,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.35, for a total transaction of $11,296,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 113,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,606,317.50. This trade represents a 29.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total transaction of $918,560.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 46,400 shares in the company, valued at $10,655,296. The trade was a 7.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $187.37 on Tuesday. Broadcom Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.76 and a twelve month high of $251.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $226.54 and its 200 day moving average is $192.50. 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 company has a market cap of $878.27 billion, a PE ratio of 152.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.02.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Broadcom’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 191.87%.

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.