Gradient Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Gradient Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 3.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,700 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the quarter. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $1,624,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 29,683 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $6,882,000 after buying an additional 5,322 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Broadcom by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,997 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,854,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,199 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $51,283,000 after purchasing an additional 31,225 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 25,522 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,917,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth about $576,000. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on AVGO shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Broadcom from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. HSBC raised shares of Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given 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 a consensus price target of $292.08.

Broadcom Stock Down 0.4%

AVGO stock opened at $285.26 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $252.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $219.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.08. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $128.50 and a fifty-two week high of $288.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.84, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.12.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 35.49% and a net margin of 22.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $10.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 20th. Broadcom’s payout ratio is currently 88.39%.

Broadcom declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, April 7th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor manufacturer to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.27, for a total transaction of $9,497,164.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 325,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $85,066,115.49. This trade represents a 10.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.33, for a total value of $125,739,356.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 38,188,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,132,574,604.75. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 830,516 shares of company stock valued at $217,224,641. 2.00% of the stock is owned by 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.