Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Sells 4,858 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. cut its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 196,986 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 4,858 shares during the period. Broadcom comprises about 0.6% of Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $45,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in Broadcom by 856.9% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,014,616 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $175,101,000 after acquiring an additional 908,585 shares during the period. Alpha Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $404,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 861.4% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,644 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Broadcom by 900.0% during the third quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,760 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 1,584 shares during the period. Finally, A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Broadcom in the third quarter worth approximately $492,000. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total value of $918,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 46,400 shares in the company, valued at $10,655,296. The trade was a 7.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $1,569,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,450 shares in the company, valued at $7,308,000. This represents a 17.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AVGO shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $265.00 to $246.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $201.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Broadcom has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.04.

Broadcom Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of Broadcom stock opened at $224.87 on Friday. Broadcom Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.76 and a 1 year high of $251.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 183.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $218.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.74.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share 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 1.05%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 191.87%.

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.