Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Increases Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC grew its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,231 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 331 shares during the period. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the fourth quarter worth about $16,893,010,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Broadcom by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 47,524,533 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $11,018,089,000 after buying an additional 15,171,849 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in Broadcom by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,213,160 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,367,819,000 after buying an additional 6,809,245 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,573,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 27.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 26,897,909 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,236,011,000 after purchasing an additional 5,783,988 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Broadcom Price Performance

AVGO opened at $228.61 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $199.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 186.47, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.04. Broadcom Inc. has a twelve month low of $128.50 and a twelve month high of $251.88. 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 declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, April 7th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor manufacturer to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Broadcom’s payout ratio is 113.46%.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 490,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,564,585.40. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total transaction of $148,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,695,300. The trade was a 3.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 720,576 shares of company stock valued at $131,249,694. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVGO has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, March 7th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Broadcom to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.48.

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.