Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) is First Merchants Corp’s 9th Largest Position

First Merchants Corp lessened its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 198,339 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 5,056 shares during the quarter. Broadcom comprises about 1.8% of First Merchants Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $45,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Palacios Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,928,000. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Broadcom by 71.5% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 7,829 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,815,000 after buying an additional 3,265 shares during the last quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Broadcom by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,571 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $828,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Broadcom by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,835 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newport Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth $252,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVGO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $205.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.04.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 40,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.98, for a total transaction of $9,279,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 696,730 shares in the company, valued at $161,627,425.40. The trade was a 5.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $918,560.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 46,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,655,296. This trade represents a 7.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800 over the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Broadcom Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $233.04 on Monday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $226.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $187.33. Broadcom Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.76 and a twelve month high of $251.88. The company has a market capitalization of $1.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 190.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.02.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

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

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.