Sarasin & Partners LLP Cuts Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Sarasin & Partners LLP cut its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 615,460 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 65,912 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings in Broadcom were worth $103,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new position in Broadcom during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVGO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $255.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Broadcom to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $272.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 25,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $4,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 465,956 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $83,872,080. The trade was a 5.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.60, for a total value of $120,578,041.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,798,721 shares in the company, valued at $7,045,847,733.60. This trade represents a 1.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 720,576 shares of company stock worth $131,249,694. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of AVGO traded up $3.29 on Thursday, reaching $256.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,290,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,884,353. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $209.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 208.97, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $128.50 and a 12-month high of $265.43.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The business had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.96 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 20th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is presently 88.39%.

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

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.