Pictet North America Advisors SA Purchases 11,746 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Pictet North America Advisors SA raised its position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 89.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,857 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after purchasing an additional 11,746 shares during the period. Pictet North America Advisors SA's holdings in Broadcom were worth $4,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AVGO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 1.4% in the fourth 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Broadcom by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,207,120 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $23,647,209,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018,294 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the fourth quarter valued at about $16,893,010,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Broadcom by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 49,087,351 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $11,380,411,000 after purchasing an additional 5,258,925 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AVGO. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Bank of America increased their price target on Broadcom from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Mizuho upped their target price on Broadcom from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Broadcom from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 15th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Broadcom to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $281.46.

Insider Activity

In other Broadcom news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 40,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.29, for a total value of $10,731,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 482,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $129,540,070.44. The trade was a 7.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.27, for a total value of $9,497,164.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 325,587 shares of the company's stock, valued at $85,066,115.49. This trade represents a 10.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 854,716 shares of company stock worth $221,433,761. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of AVGO traded up $4.97 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $274.87. 10,592,655 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,686,867. The company has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $235.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $216.81. Broadcom Inc. has a 1 year low of $128.50 and a 1 year high of $277.71.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 22.64% and a return on equity of 35.49%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $10.96 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is currently 88.39%.

Broadcom announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, April 7th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor manufacturer to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.