Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Has $71.84 Million Stock Holdings in Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 217,750 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 12,993 shares during the period. Broadcom makes up approximately 2.0% of Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $71,838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 483,442,939 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $133,261,046,000 after purchasing an additional 6,222,802 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Broadcom by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 185,276,987 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $51,071,601,000 after purchasing an additional 873,963 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Broadcom by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 108,610,718 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $29,827,649,000 after buying an additional 2,226,585 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Broadcom in the second quarter valued at approximately $18,579,549,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Broadcom by 8.4% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 38,449,630 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $10,598,641,000 after buying an additional 2,978,768 shares in the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 3,714 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.79, for a total value of $1,217,412.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 307,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,709,216.23. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 1,928 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.80, for a total transaction of $631,998.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 23,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,730,179.60. This represents a 7.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 650,701 shares of company stock worth $239,190,157. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVGO has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $435.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Argus increased their target price on Broadcom from $285.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Broadcom from $435.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Broadcom from $435.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $436.33.

Broadcom Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $347.62 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $362.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $327.32. Broadcom Inc. has a one year low of $138.10 and a one year high of $414.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 73.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.08. Broadcom had a return on equity of 37.45% and a net margin of 36.20%.The company had revenue of $18.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. Broadcom’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 22nd were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 22nd. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Broadcom’s payout ratio is presently 54.62%.

Broadcom Profile

Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) is a global technology company that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions for a broad range of markets. The company’s semiconductor business provides components and systems for wired and wireless communications, enterprise and cloud storage, networking and broadband access, serving original equipment manufacturers, cloud service providers, telecommunications carriers and industrial customers worldwide. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, California, and operates globally with research, development and sales organizations across North America, Europe and Asia.

On the semiconductor side, Broadcom’s portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) solutions, radio-frequency and connectivity components, Ethernet switching and PHY devices, storage adapters and controllers, optical transceivers and other networking silicon.