Hartford Investment Management Co. Sells 2,607 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Key Points

• Hartford Investment Management Co. recently reduced its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 0.9%, leaving them with approximately 286,018 shares valued at nearly $47.9 million.
• In addition to Hartford, other major investors like US Bancorp DE and Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased their stakes in Broadcom during the first quarter.
• Analysts remain optimistic, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and a target price of around $294.92, following several recent upgrades on the stock.

Hartford Investment Management Co. trimmed its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 286,018 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 2,607 shares during the period. Broadcom makes up about 1.7% of Hartford Investment Management Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Hartford Investment Management Co.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $47,888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in 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 during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Broadcom by 46.9% during 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 during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Broadcom by 12.0% during the 4th 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. boosted its position in Broadcom by 609.4% in the 4th 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 boosted its position in Broadcom by 3.2% in the 4th 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.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.27, for a total transaction of $9,497,164.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 325,587 shares in the company, valued at $85,066,115.49. This represents a 10.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total transaction of $219,440.00. Following the sale, the director owned 24,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,742,842.60. This trade represents a 3.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 830,516 shares of company stock valued at $217,224,641 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on AVGO. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $294.92.

Broadcom Stock Performance

AVGO traded down $5.06 on Friday, hitting $288.64. 21,405,316 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,995,794. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 108.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.15. Broadcom Inc. has a twelve month low of $128.50 and a twelve month high of $306.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $266.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $15 billion for 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%. Broadcom's quarterly revenue 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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 20th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is 88.39%.

Broadcom Company 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.