Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Lowers Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Key Points

• Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in Broadcom Inc. by 0.6%, holding 1,205,181 shares valued at approximately $201.78 million as of the recent quarter.
• Broadcom's latest quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, with an earnings per share of $1.58 and revenue of $15 billion, marking a 20.2% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.8%, and a share buyback plan authorized for up to $10 billion.

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,205,181 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 6,990 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in Broadcom were worth $201,784,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 17,181,652 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted 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 acquiring an additional 15,171,849 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 12.0% during 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 buying an additional 5,258,925 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 609.4% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 4,379,348 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $980,500,000 after buying an additional 3,762,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 93,274,317 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $21,624,718,000 after buying an additional 2,873,809 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AVGO. UBS Group lifted their price target on Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Broadcom to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. HSBC raised Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Broadcom from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Broadcom currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $294.92.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In related news, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.33, for a total value of $125,739,356.34. Following the sale, the director directly owned 38,188,575 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,132,574,604.75. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total transaction of $219,440.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,582 shares in the company, valued at $6,742,842.60. This trade represents a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 830,516 shares of company stock valued at $217,224,641. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Broadcom Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of AVGO stock traded down $5.06 on Friday, hitting $288.64. The stock had a trading volume of 21,405,316 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,067,202. The business has a 50 day moving average of $266.56 and a 200 day moving average of $224.50. The stock has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $128.50 and a 12-month 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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $15 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $10.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is presently 88.39%.

Broadcom declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are 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.