Morling Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Morling Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,901 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,207,120 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $23,647,209,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018,294 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 93,274,317 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $21,624,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,873,809 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,893,010,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 49,087,351 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $11,380,411,000 after acquiring an additional 5,258,925 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 47,524,533 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $11,018,089,000 after acquiring an additional 15,171,849 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of AVGO stock traded up $5.02 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $288.71. The company had a trading volume of 16,378,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,434,116. Broadcom Inc. has a 52-week low of $128.50 and a 52-week high of $291.20. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $258.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 108.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.12.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.01. Broadcom had a net margin of 22.64% and a return on equity of 35.49%. The firm had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $10.96 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.39%.

Broadcom announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, April 7th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor manufacturer to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Broadcom in a report on Thursday, July 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $315.00 price objective on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Broadcom to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $255.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $292.08.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other news, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.33, for a total value of $125,739,356.34. Following the transaction, the director owned 38,188,575 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,132,574,604.75. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 56,310 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.75, for a total transaction of $14,176,042.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 361,937 shares in the company, valued at $91,117,639.75. This trade represents a 13.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 830,516 shares of company stock valued at $217,224,641. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Broadcom 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.