Sterling Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Sterling Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 9.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,888 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 158 shares during the quarter. Sterling Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 4th 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $255.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $304.00 price target (up previously from $267.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $272.71.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total transaction of $148,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,380 shares in the company, valued at $4,695,300. The trade was a 3.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.60, for a total transaction of $120,578,041.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 38,798,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,045,847,733.60. The trade was a 1.68% 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 valued at $131,249,694 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Broadcom Price Performance

AVGO stock opened at $252.91 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $209.12 and a 200-day moving average of $207.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $128.50 and a 12-month high of $265.43. The company has a market cap of $1.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 206.29, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The business had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.96 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 20th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership 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.