Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 9.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,706 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 7,227 shares during the period. Broadcom comprises 1.1% of Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $11,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AVGO. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $23,647,209,000 after buying an additional 3,018,294 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 93,274,317 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $21,624,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,873,809 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 12.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,258,925 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 46.9% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 15,171,849 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 34,401,379 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $7,975,616,000 after purchasing an additional 581,704 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVGO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Broadcom in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $301.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup upped their target price on Broadcom from $285.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $304.00 target price (up from $267.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $292.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.33, for a total transaction of $125,739,356.34. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 38,188,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,132,574,604.75. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.91, for a total transaction of $29,782,175.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,014,152 shares in the company, valued at $256,489,182.32. This trade represents a 10.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 830,516 shares of company stock valued at $217,224,641. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $290.18 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $260.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $222.08. The company has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $128.50 and a 52 week high of $292.59.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last announced its quarterly 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 analysts’ expectations of $14.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $10.96 earnings per share. Broadcom’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.39%.

Broadcom announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management 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.