Principal Securities Inc. Raises Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 86,447 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $14,474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AVGO. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Broadcom during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Broadcom by 342.5% during the first quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 56,310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.75, for a total value of $14,176,042.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 361,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,117,639.75. This represents a 13.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 1,014,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,489,182.32. This represents a 10.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 854,716 shares of company stock worth $221,433,761. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $315.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $295.00 target price on shares of Broadcom and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $285.00.

Broadcom Stock Down 0.9%

AVGO opened at $271.80 on Wednesday. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $128.50 and a fifty-two week high of $277.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $242.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $217.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.80, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.12.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 22.64% and a return on equity of 35.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $10.96 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. Broadcom’s payout ratio is 88.39%.

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.