Guinness Asset Management LTD decreased its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 14.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 867,952 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 146,990 shares during the quarter. Broadcom comprises about 4.9% of Guinness Asset Management LTD's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Guinness Asset Management LTD's holdings in Broadcom were worth $302,376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV raised its stake in Broadcom by 44.7% during the fourth quarter. Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV now owns 3,137 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Associated Banc Corp raised its stake in Broadcom by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 4,505 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,559,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC raised its stake in Broadcom by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 13,173 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $4,559,000 after purchasing an additional 2,288 shares in the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC increased its position in Broadcom by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 42,673 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $14,769,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd increased its position in Broadcom by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 119,894 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $41,495,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms have weighed in on AVGO. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $462.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $500.00 price objective (up from $475.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $582.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $545.00 price objective (up from $430.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Broadcom from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $454.55.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Broadcom
Key Headlines Impacting Broadcom
Here are the key news stories impacting Broadcom this week:
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Broadcom news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.23, for a total transaction of $3,452,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 787,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $271,759,532.32. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider S. Ram Velaga sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.52, for a total transaction of $2,964,160.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 57,932 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,464,964.64. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 324,282 shares of company stock valued at $106,425,249 over the last quarter. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Broadcom Stock Up 1.1%
NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $426.58 on Friday. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $234.90 and a 1-year high of $442.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $380.90 and a 200 day moving average of $357.94. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 83.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.73.
Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.02. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.57% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company had revenue of $19.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Broadcom Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 23rd were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 23rd. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is 50.78%.
Broadcom Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading

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