Scotia Capital Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Scotia Capital Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 9.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 451,251 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 44,450 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $75,553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 712 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $165,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Bank Ltd. now owns 750 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $174,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC now owns 2,130 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. American Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. American Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GS Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 11,397 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,908,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $304.00 target price (up from $267.00) on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, June 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, June 6th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $294.92.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 56,310 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.75, for a total transaction of $14,176,042.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 361,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $91,117,639.75. This represents a 13.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.33, for a total transaction of $125,739,356.34. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 38,188,575 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,132,574,604.75. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 830,516 shares of company stock worth $217,224,641 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Broadcom Price Performance

Broadcom stock opened at $288.64 on Friday. 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. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $266.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 108.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.15.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.01. Broadcom had a net margin of 22.64% and a return on equity of 35.49%. The firm had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $10.96 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

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

Broadcom announced that its board 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board 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.

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