First Foundation Advisors Sells 2,602 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Key Points

• First Foundation Advisors decreased its stake in Broadcom Inc. by 16.4%, selling 2,602 shares during the first quarter, bringing their total holdings to 13,216 shares valued at approximately $2.21 million.
• Analysts have shown strong optimism for Broadcom, with multiple firms raising their price targets significantly, resulting in an average target of $292.08 and an overall rating of "Buy" from the consensus.
• Broadcom recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, with a total annualized dividend of $2.36, alongside a $10 billion share repurchase program to buy back an estimated 1.4% of its shares.

First Foundation Advisors cut its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 16.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,216 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 2,602 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors' holdings in Broadcom were worth $2,213,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 18,179.3% during 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 grew its stake in 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 valued at $11,018,089,000 after buying an additional 15,171,849 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake 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 worth $11,380,411,000 after purchasing an additional 5,258,925 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted 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 worth $980,500,000 after buying an additional 3,762,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,207,120 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $23,647,209,000 after purchasing an additional 3,018,294 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Broadcom from $270.00 to $338.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Broadcom from $285.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Broadcom from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Broadcom has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $294.92.

Broadcom Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO traded up $5.20 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $302.62. 16,562,443 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,293,160. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $264.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.64. Broadcom Inc. has a twelve month low of $128.50 and a twelve month high of $303.26. 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 company has a market cap of $1.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 113.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.12.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.01. Broadcom had a return on equity of 35.49% and a net margin of 22.64%. The business had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $10.96 earnings per share. The company'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 fiscal year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The business 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. 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 0.78%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.39%.

Broadcom declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, April 7th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor manufacturer to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other news, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total transaction of $219,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 24,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,742,842.60. This represents a 3.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 325,587 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 sold 830,516 shares of company stock worth $217,224,641 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

About Broadcom

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.