Atlas Brown Inc. Grows Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Atlas Brown Inc. grew its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 5.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,305 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the quarter. Atlas Brown Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $219,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Broadcom by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 475,134,603 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $110,155,206,000 after buying an additional 6,573,204 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,207,120 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $23,647,209,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018,294 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Broadcom by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 93,274,317 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $21,624,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,873,809 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at about $16,893,010,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Broadcom by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 49,087,351 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $11,380,411,000 after acquiring an additional 5,258,925 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO opened at $239.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 195.35, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.04. Broadcom Inc. has a one year low of $128.50 and a one year high of $251.88. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $195.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $203.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Broadcom’s payout ratio is 113.46%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AVGO. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Broadcom to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Broadcom from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on Broadcom from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other news, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 38,798,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,045,847,733.60. This trade represents a 1.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.65, for a total transaction of $5,839,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 490,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,564,585.40. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 720,576 shares of company stock worth $131,249,694 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.