R Squared Ltd Grows Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Key Points

• R Squared Ltd significantly increased its stake in Broadcom Inc. by 1,841.2% in the first quarter, owning a total of 3,300 shares valued at approximately $553,000.
• Broadcom reported a 20.2% year-over-year revenue increase, achieving $15 billion in revenue for the quarter, while earnings per share of $1.58 slightly exceeded analysts' expectations.
• The company has approved a $10 billion stock repurchase program and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59, reflecting confidence in its valuation and profitability.

R Squared Ltd increased its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 1,841.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,300 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after purchasing an additional 3,130 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd's holdings in Broadcom were worth $553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in Broadcom by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 712 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $165,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Mizuho Bank Ltd. lifted its position in Broadcom by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 2.4% during the first quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC now owns 2,130 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. American Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. American Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GS Investments Inc. increased its position in Broadcom by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 11,397 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,908,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.29, for a total value of $10,731,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 482,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $129,540,070.44. The trade was a 7.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gayla J. Delly sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.13, for a total transaction of $795,390.00. Following the sale, the director owned 33,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,842,615.76. This represents a 8.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 830,516 shares of company stock worth $217,224,641. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of AVGO traded down $5.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $288.64. 21,405,316 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,067,202. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $266.56 and a 200-day moving average of $224.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 108.10, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.15. Broadcom Inc. has a one year low of $128.50 and a one year high of $306.95.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Broadcom had a net margin of 22.64% and a return on equity of 35.49%. The business had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $10.96 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is currently 88.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AVGO. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price target on Broadcom from $255.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. One research 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. According to MarketBeat, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $294.92.

Broadcom Company 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.