Boston Common Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 14.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 158,900 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 27,348 shares during the quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings in Broadcom were worth $26,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVGO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $16,893,010,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,213,160 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $2,367,819,000 after purchasing an additional 6,809,245 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 6,573,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 27.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 26,897,909 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $6,236,011,000 after purchasing an additional 5,783,988 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.19, for a total transaction of $184,152.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,026,834.58. The trade was a 2.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $4,500,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 465,956 shares of the company's stock, valued at $83,872,080. This represents a 5.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 720,576 shares of company stock valued at $131,249,694. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AVGO shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $255.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, March 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, March 7th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $238.77.

Broadcom Trading Down 1.0%

AVGO stock traded down $2.47 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $239.50. The stock had a trading volume of 27,045,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,042,717. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 195.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $128.50 and a 12-month high of $251.88. The company's 50-day moving average price is $194.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $202.79.

Broadcom announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, April 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor manufacturer to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Broadcom's payout ratio is currently 113.46%.

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.