Griffin Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Key Points

• Griffin Asset Management boosted its Broadcom stake by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, buying 5,440 more shares and bringing its total holdings to 23,837 shares worth about $8.25 million.
• Broadcom continues to attract strong institutional interest, with several other funds also increasing positions and 76.43% of shares now held by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• Analysts remain largely positive on AVGO, with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $448.10 target price, even as one firm downgraded the stock to hold; Broadcom also beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates and recently paid a $0.65 quarterly dividend.

Griffin Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,837 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after purchasing an additional 5,440 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $8,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVGO. Providence First Trust Co grew its holdings in Broadcom by 1,099.3% during the 3rd quarter. Providence First Trust Co now owns 8,923 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $2,944,000 after purchasing an additional 8,179 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in Broadcom by 3.4% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 323,587 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $109,492,000 after buying an additional 10,786 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 77,411 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $25,539,000 after acquiring an additional 7,499 shares during the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 2.6% during the third quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 173,759 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $57,325,000 after purchasing an additional 4,442 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Broadcom by 248.2% during the third quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc now owns 26,238 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $8,603,000 after acquiring an additional 18,703 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AVGO shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $485.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Broadcom from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Broadcom in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $500.00 price objective (up from $475.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $448.10.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of Broadcom stock opened at $414.14 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $374.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $356.49. Broadcom Inc. has a 52-week low of $226.18 and a 52-week high of $442.36.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $19.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.10 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.57% and a return on equity of 38.61%. Broadcom's quarterly revenue was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 23rd were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 23rd. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, Director Gayla J. Delly sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.31, for a total value of $358,310.00. Following the sale, the director owned 32,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,592,045.12. This trade represents a 3.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Justine Page sold 2,018 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $712,354.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,164 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,411,892. The trade was a 10.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 324,282 shares of company stock worth $106,425,249 in the last quarter. 1.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Broadcom Company Profile

Broadcom Inc NASDAQ: AVGO is a global technology company that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions for a broad range of markets. The company's semiconductor business provides components and systems for wired and wireless communications, enterprise and cloud storage, networking and broadband access, serving original equipment manufacturers, cloud service providers, telecommunications carriers and industrial customers worldwide. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, California, and operates globally with research, development and sales organizations across North America, Europe and Asia.

On the semiconductor side, Broadcom's portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) solutions, radio-frequency and connectivity components, Ethernet switching and PHY devices, storage adapters and controllers, optical transceivers and other networking silicon.

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