Blair William & Co. IL Raises Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 12.8%, buying an additional 98,128 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total to 865,420 shares valued at approximately $144.9 million.
• Several equity analysts have upgraded Broadcom's stock ratings, with estimates raising the price target significantly, reflecting a strong consensus of buy ratings and an average target price of $294.92.
• In the latest quarter, Broadcom reported earnings of $1.58 per share on revenues of $15 billion, exceeding analysts' estimates and reflecting a 20.2% year-over-year revenue growth.

Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 12.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 865,420 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after acquiring an additional 98,128 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Broadcom were worth $144,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVGO. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Broadcom by 18,179.3% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in 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 valued at $11,018,089,000 after purchasing an additional 15,171,849 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Broadcom by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 49,087,351 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $11,380,411,000 after purchasing an additional 5,258,925 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its stake in Broadcom by 609.4% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 4,379,348 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $980,500,000 after purchasing an additional 3,762,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Broadcom by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 93,274,317 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $21,624,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,873,809 shares in the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Broadcom Trading Up 3.1%

AVGO traded up $9.08 during trading on Monday, reaching $297.72. The company had a trading volume of 17,122,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,067,202. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 111.51, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $266.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $224.50. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $128.50 and a 52 week high of $306.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $10.96 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total value of $219,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,742,842.60. The trade was a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 38,188,575 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,132,574,604.75. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 830,516 shares of company stock worth $217,224,641 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AVGO. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, June 6th. HSBC upgraded shares of Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Broadcom has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $294.92.

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.