American Century Companies Inc. Increases Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Broadcom Inc. by 9.4%, owning approximately 7.85 million shares valued at $1.314 billion, representing 0.8% of its portfolio.
• Several institutional investors, including Nuveen LLC and Price T Rowe Associates, have significantly augmented their positions in Broadcom, with hedge funds now holding over 76% of the company's stock.
• Broadcom recently reported quarterly earnings of $1.58 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share with a yield of 0.8%.

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 9.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,850,917 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after acquiring an additional 676,176 shares during the quarter. Broadcom comprises about 0.8% of American Century Companies Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Broadcom worth $1,314,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 1st quarter valued at about $6,649,117,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 18,179.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,276,164 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $2,892,548,000 after purchasing an additional 17,181,652 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 47,524,533 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $11,018,089,000 after purchasing an additional 15,171,849 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Broadcom by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 49,087,351 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $11,380,411,000 after purchasing an additional 5,258,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Broadcom by 16.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,854,414 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $5,333,384,000 after purchasing an additional 4,550,647 shares in the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Broadcom from $285.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $295.96.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of Broadcom stock opened at $311.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.57, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $277.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $228.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.08. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $134.90 and a 52 week high of $317.35.

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

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's payout ratio is 88.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.88, for a total transaction of $2,528,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 789,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $199,720,577.92. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.33, for a total transaction of $125,739,356.34. Following the sale, the director directly owned 38,188,575 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,132,574,604.75. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 829,716 shares of company stock worth $217,040,489 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

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.

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