BancFirst Trust & Investment Management Buys New Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

BancFirst Trust & Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,250 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock, valued at approximately $294,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AXA S.A. increased its position in Broadcom by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 291,078 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $467,334,000 after purchasing an additional 7,608 shares in the last quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Broadcom by 829.8% in the third quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,950 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,371,000 after acquiring an additional 7,095 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 943.3% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,136 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,473,000 after acquiring an additional 18,206 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 947.2% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 689,858 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $119,000,000 after acquiring an additional 623,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 969.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 386,644 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $66,696,000 after purchasing an additional 350,485 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AVGO shares. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Broadcom from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Broadcom from $233.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Broadcom has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.88.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AVGO traded up $1.08 during trading on Thursday, hitting $232.92. 16,742,309 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,456,207. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $1.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 202.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $104.15 and a 1-year high of $251.88.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last announced 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 10.88% and a return on equity of 30.12%. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 191.87%.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In related news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,168 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.79, for a total value of $4,815,916.72. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 321,660 shares in the company, valued at $76,809,191.40. This represents a 5.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 12,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.62, for a total transaction of $2,886,323.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 325,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,728,221.66. The trade was a 3.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 154,408 shares of company stock valued at $33,412,228 over the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.