Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 32,723 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. has reduced its holdings in Broadcom Inc. by 11.6%, selling 32,723 shares during the first quarter, leaving it with 249,752 shares worth approximately $41.8 million.
• Broadcom's CFO, Kirsten M. Spears, sold 56,310 shares for over $14.17 million, resulting in a 13.46% decrease in her position.
• Analysts have generally positive outlooks on Broadcom, with the average price target raised to approximately $294.92 and a majority rating of "Buy".

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lowered its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 11.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 249,752 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 32,723 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $41,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in Broadcom during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Broadcom during the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVGO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $285.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $315.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $294.92.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.88, for a total transaction of $2,528,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 789,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,720,577.92. This represents a 1.25% 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, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.91, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 10.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 830,516 shares of company stock worth $217,224,641. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Broadcom Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO traded up $7.69 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $311.59. The company had a trading volume of 7,496,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,314,232. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 116.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.15. The firm's 50 day moving average is $273.98 and its 200-day moving average is $227.04. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $134.90 and a 1-year high of $311.11.

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 firm had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 35.49% and a net margin of 22.64%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.96 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

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