CENTRAL TRUST Co Sells 11,868 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

CENTRAL TRUST Co lowered its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 472,519 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 11,868 shares during the quarter. Broadcom accounts for approximately 1.9% of CENTRAL TRUST Co's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. CENTRAL TRUST Co's holdings in Broadcom were worth $79,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,893,010,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 18,179.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,276,164 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $2,892,548,000 after purchasing an additional 17,181,652 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 47,524,533 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $11,018,089,000 after purchasing an additional 15,171,849 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in Broadcom by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,213,160 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $2,367,819,000 after purchasing an additional 6,809,245 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Broadcom by 1.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AVGO shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Benchmark increased their price objective on Broadcom from $255.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on Broadcom from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $276.09.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO opened at $252.10 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.47. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $128.50 and a 1-year high of $265.43. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 205.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The firm had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $10.96 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Broadcom's payout ratio is 88.39%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.65, for a total value of $5,839,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 490,956 shares of the company's stock, valued at $95,564,585.40. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.88, for a total value of $2,528,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 789,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,720,577.92. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 848,334 shares of company stock valued at $163,560,669 over the last quarter. Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AVGO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.