Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) is Covington Investment Advisors Inc.'s 4th Largest Position

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 907.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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 3.8% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $25,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVGO. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 1,121.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 90,400,508 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $15,594,088,000 after acquiring an additional 82,998,328 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 842.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 35,998,595 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $6,209,758,000 after purchasing an additional 32,178,542 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Broadcom by 962.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,997,455 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $5,519,591,000 after purchasing an additional 28,985,434 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Broadcom by 938.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 23,422,781 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $4,040,430,000 after purchasing an additional 21,168,095 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 858.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 18,369,841 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $3,168,798,000 after buying an additional 16,453,718 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, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 18,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.88, for a total transaction of $3,456,432.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 380,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,596,812.80. The trade was a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 15,950 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.44, for a total transaction of $2,893,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 737,330 shares in the company, valued at $133,781,155.20. The trade was a 2.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 311,080 shares of company stock worth $53,540,590. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVGO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Broadcom to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $195.96.

Broadcom Trading Down 3.1 %

AVGO stock traded down $5.07 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $159.67. The stock had a trading volume of 19,722,723 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,185,664. The company's 50-day moving average price is $173.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $161.49. 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 firm has a market cap of $745.75 billion, a PE ratio of 138.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.17. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.31 and a 12-month high of $186.42.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.04. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $13.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is a positive change from Broadcom's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is presently 184.35%.

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.