Fernwood Investment Management LLC Acquires 990 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Fernwood Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 48.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,025 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 990 shares during the quarter. Fernwood Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 976.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,188,826 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $17,055,760,000 after purchasing an additional 89,975,941 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter valued at $16,893,010,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Broadcom by 1,114.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 21,113,921 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,849,270,000 after purchasing an additional 19,375,547 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Broadcom by 200.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Broadcom by 1.4% during 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 buying an additional 6,573,204 shares during the last quarter. 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 several analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Broadcom from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Broadcom from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.48.

Broadcom Price Performance

NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $156.03 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $198.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $195.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $733.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.05. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.76 and a 12-month high of $251.88.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 113.46%.

Broadcom declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $7,045,847,733.60. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.65, for a total value of $5,839,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 490,956 shares in the company, valued at $95,564,585.40. This represents a 5.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Broadcom 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.