Argent Advisors Inc. Acquires New Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Argent Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,261 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock, valued at approximately $379,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Broadcom by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 475,134,603 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $110,155,206,000 after buying an additional 6,573,204 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Broadcom by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,207,120 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $23,647,209,000 after buying an additional 3,018,294 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Broadcom by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 93,274,317 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $21,624,718,000 after buying an additional 2,873,809 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $16,893,010,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Broadcom by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 49,087,351 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $11,380,411,000 after buying an additional 5,258,925 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In related news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.91, for a total transaction of $29,782,175.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,014,152 shares in the company, valued at $256,489,182.32. The trade was a 10.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.33, for a total transaction of $125,739,356.34. Following the transaction, the director owned 38,188,575 shares in the company, 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 854,716 shares of company stock valued at $221,433,761 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Broadcom Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of AVGO stock traded up $5.16 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $269.90. The stock had a trading volume of 17,204,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,759,327. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $233.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $216.44. Broadcom Inc. has a 52-week low of $128.50 and a 52-week high of $277.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 101.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released 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. 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 analysts' expectations of $14.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $10.96 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, April 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 20th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is currently 88.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AVGO. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Truist Financial set a $295.00 price target on shares of Broadcom and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $281.25.

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.