Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Broadcom Inc. by 88.7% in the first quarter, selling 117,044 shares and ending with 14,971 shares valued at $2.5 million.
• Insider transactions include Director Henry Samueli selling 473,898 shares for approximately $125.7 million, while total insider sales over the last three months reached $217.2 million.
• Several analysts have indicated a positive outlook for Broadcom, with target price upgrades leading to an average consensus target price of $294.92 and predominantly "buy" ratings from analysts.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 88.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,971 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 117,044 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $2,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alberta Investment Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 0.5% during the first quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 105,349 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $17,639,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Broadcom by 2.0% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,222,848 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $204,744,000 after purchasing an additional 23,788 shares during the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Broadcom by 18.7% in the first quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,857 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $2,043,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868 shares during the last quarter. Momentous Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Broadcom by 10.7% in the first quarter. Momentous Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,325 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invictus Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Broadcom by 2.6% in the first quarter. Invictus Private Wealth LLC now owns 122,534 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $20,516,000 after purchasing an additional 3,145 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Broadcom news, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.33, for a total value of $125,739,356.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 38,188,575 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,132,574,604.75. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 789,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 sold a total of 830,516 shares of company stock valued at $217,224,641 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Broadcom from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Evercore ISI reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $304.00 target price (up previously from $267.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Broadcom in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $315.00 target price on the stock. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $294.92.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO opened at $288.64 on Friday. The business's 50 day moving average price is $266.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $224.53. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 108.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.15. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $128.50 and a 52 week high of $306.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 35.49% and a net margin of 22.64%. Broadcom's revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $10.96 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, April 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor manufacturer to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.8%. Broadcom's payout ratio is presently 88.39%.

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.

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