FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Buys 563 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH raised its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,492 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 563 shares during the quarter. Broadcom comprises about 0.8% of FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $3,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Castleview Partners LLC boosted its stake in Broadcom by 1,030.8% in the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 147 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC grew 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 valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Broadcom news, Director Diane M. Bryant sold 15,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,464,352.80. The trade was a 69.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total value of $918,560.00. Following the transaction, 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. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Broadcom from $205.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America upped their price target on Broadcom from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Broadcom from $205.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Broadcom from $233.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.83.

Broadcom Price Performance

AVGO stock opened at $237.44 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $112.19 and a 52 week high of $251.88. The firm has a market capitalization 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 released 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 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change 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 0.99%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 192.50%.

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.