Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 907.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 147,497 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 132,854 shares during the period. Broadcom makes up approximately 3.8% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $25,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Castleview Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 900.0% during the third quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 240 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Broadcom from $2,400.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, September 6th. William Blair started coverage on shares of Broadcom in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $195.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.37, for a total value of $8,168,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,331,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,594,136.70. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gayla J. Delly sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.53, for a total transaction of $130,897.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,064,917.50. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 311,080 shares of company stock valued at $53,540,590. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of AVGO stock opened at $159.67 on Thursday. Broadcom Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.31 and a 1 year high of $186.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $173.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $745.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 138.72, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.17.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.98 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 30.12%. Broadcom’s quarterly revenue was up 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 19th were issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 184.19%.

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.