Broadcom Inc. $AVGO Shares Sold by Wright Investors Service Inc.

Key Points

• Wright Investors Service Inc. trimmed its Broadcom stake by 11.9%, selling 5,036 shares and retaining 37,123 shares valued at about $12.85 million, making AVGO its 5th-largest holding (3.9% of the portfolio).
• Insider activity was heavy: insiders sold a total of 324,282 shares worth roughly $106.4 million last quarter, including large dispositions by S. Ram Velaga and CFO Kirsten M. Spears.
• Analysts maintain a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $435.30; Broadcom recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates (revenue +29.5% YoY) and the stock trades near $420 with a market cap around $1.99 trillion.

Wright Investors Service Inc. trimmed its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,123 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 5,036 shares during the quarter. Broadcom comprises 3.9% of Wright Investors Service Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Wright Investors Service Inc.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $12,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 29,683 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $6,882,000 after purchasing an additional 5,322 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,997 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,854,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 76.5% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,339 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 1,014 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,693 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $3,499,000 after buying an additional 1,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,098,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVGO has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Broadcom from $458.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Broadcom from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $410.00 to $430.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Erste Group Bank cut Broadcom from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Broadcom from $370.00 to $340.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Broadcom has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $435.30.

Broadcom Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of Broadcom stock opened at $419.94 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $339.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $347.19. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 82.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Broadcom Inc. has a 12 month low of $178.29 and a 12 month high of $429.31.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $19.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.10 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 36.57%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.95 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 23rd. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Broadcom news, insider S. Ram Velaga sold 38,841 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.60, for a total value of $12,491,265.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 96,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,920,875.20. This represents a 28.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,292 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.60, for a total transaction of $11,671,507.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 327,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,407,616. This represents a 9.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 324,282 shares of company stock worth $106,425,249 over the last quarter. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Broadcom Company Profile

Broadcom Inc NASDAQ: AVGO is a global technology company that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions for a broad range of markets. The company's semiconductor business provides components and systems for wired and wireless communications, enterprise and cloud storage, networking and broadband access, serving original equipment manufacturers, cloud service providers, telecommunications carriers and industrial customers worldwide. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, California, and operates globally with research, development and sales organizations across North America, Europe and Asia.

On the semiconductor side, Broadcom's portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) solutions, radio-frequency and connectivity components, Ethernet switching and PHY devices, storage adapters and controllers, optical transceivers and other networking silicon.

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