Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) Shares Purchased by Aberdeen Group plc

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc has increased its holdings in Broadcom Inc. by 20.9%, owning approximately 4.26 million shares valued at about $700 million, making it the firm's 10th largest position.
• Broadcom reported a quarterly revenue of $15 billion, exceeding analyst expectations, with earnings per share at $1.58, slightly above the consensus estimate of $1.57.
• Insider trading activity showed significant sales, with CFO Kirsten M. Spears selling over 56,000 shares and Director Henry Samueli selling nearly 474,000 shares recently.

Aberdeen Group plc lifted its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 20.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,266,536 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after acquiring an additional 736,452 shares during the quarter. Broadcom accounts for about 1.4% of Aberdeen Group plc's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Aberdeen Group plc owned about 0.09% of Broadcom worth $700,395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AVGO. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the first quarter worth $6,649,117,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 18,179.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,276,164 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $2,892,548,000 after purchasing an additional 17,181,652 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Broadcom by 46.9% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Broadcom by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 49,087,351 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $11,380,411,000 after purchasing an additional 5,258,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Broadcom by 16.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,854,414 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $5,333,384,000 after purchasing an additional 4,550,647 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Broadcom Stock Down 1.6%

Broadcom stock traded down $4.89 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $306.34. The stock had a trading volume of 22,795,520 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,011,082. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 114.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.15. Broadcom Inc. has a 12 month low of $134.90 and a 12 month high of $317.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $278.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.63.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. Broadcom had a return on equity of 35.49% and a net margin of 22.64%. The company 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. Broadcom's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on AVGO shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Broadcom to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Mizuho increased their target price on Broadcom from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Broadcom from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $295.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $10,731,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 482,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,540,070.44. The trade was a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 325,587 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $85,066,115.49. This represents a 10.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 830,516 shares of company stock valued at $217,286,457 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

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.