Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 41,967 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 14.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 241,151 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 41,967 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $40,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AVGO. Norges Bank bought a new position in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $16,893,010,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 18,179.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,276,164 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,892,548,000 after acquiring an additional 17,181,652 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 47,524,533 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $11,018,089,000 after acquiring an additional 15,171,849 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,213,160 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,367,819,000 after acquiring an additional 6,809,245 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 475,134,603 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $110,155,206,000 after acquiring an additional 6,573,204 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVGO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna increased their target price on Broadcom from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Barclays increased their target price on Broadcom from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Broadcom from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.09.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In related news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.91, for a total value of $29,782,175.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,014,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,489,182.32. This trade represents a 10.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 38,798,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,045,847,733.60. This trade represents a 1.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 875,444 shares of company stock valued at $172,097,492. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Broadcom Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of AVGO opened at $253.77 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Broadcom Inc. has a 1 year low of $128.50 and a 1 year high of $265.43. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $221.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $213.28. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 95.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.11.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.96 earnings per share. Broadcom’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.39%.

Broadcom declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, April 7th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor manufacturer to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.