Balentine LLC Cuts Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Balentine LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 29.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,447 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 1,035 shares during the quarter. Balentine LLC's holdings in Broadcom were worth $410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AVGO. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in Broadcom by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 712 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in Broadcom by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 4,983 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,155,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Mizuho Bank Ltd. increased its stake in Broadcom by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $174,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 2.4% during the first quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC now owns 2,130 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. American Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total value of $219,440.00. Following the sale, the director owned 24,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,742,842.60. This trade represents a 3.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,350 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.27, for a total transaction of $9,497,164.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 325,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $85,066,115.49. This trade represents a 10.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 830,516 shares of company stock worth $217,224,641 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on AVGO shares. Citigroup raised their price target on Broadcom from $285.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Broadcom in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $315.00 price target on the stock. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Broadcom from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Broadcom has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $292.08.

Broadcom Stock Performance

AVGO traded down $3.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $283.34. The company had a trading volume of 15,006,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,818,679. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 106.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.12. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $128.50 and a 12-month high of $288.28. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $254.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $220.25.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $15 billion for 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%. Broadcom's revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $10.96 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 program on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is currently 88.39%.

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.