Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Boosts Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 166.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,100 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after buying an additional 3,808 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Broadcom were worth $1,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hamilton Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Broadcom by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Hamilton Capital Partners LLC now owns 52,313 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $8,759,000 after acquiring an additional 8,968 shares during the period. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Broadcom by 31.8% in the 1st quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 16,077 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $2,692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,876 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Broadcom by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 276,840 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $46,351,000 after acquiring an additional 7,986 shares in the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Broadcom by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 93,440 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $15,645,000 after acquiring an additional 2,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Broadcom by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 2,987 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $500,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVGO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial set a $295.00 target price on shares of Broadcom and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Broadcom from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $276.09.

Broadcom Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AVGO traded down $1.27 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $249.99. The stock had a trading volume of 42,100,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,751,829. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $220.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.17. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $128.50 and a 12-month high of $265.43. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 93.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.11.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.96 EPS. Broadcom's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.39%.

Broadcom declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.91, for a total transaction of $29,782,175.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,014,152 shares of the company's stock, valued at $256,489,182.32. The trade was a 10.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.35, for a total value of $200,280.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,382 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,354,383.70. This trade represents a 3.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 849,134 shares of company stock valued at $163,760,949. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Broadcom 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.