West Paces Advisors Inc. Reduces Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

West Paces Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 15.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,501 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 2,493 shares during the quarter. Broadcom makes up approximately 0.5% of West Paces Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $2,261,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVGO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at $16,893,010,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Broadcom by 18,179.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,276,164 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,892,548,000 after buying an additional 17,181,652 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Broadcom by 46.9% in 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 buying an additional 15,171,849 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Broadcom by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,213,160 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,367,819,000 after buying an additional 6,809,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Broadcom by 1.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other news, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.19, for a total value of $184,152.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,026,834.58. This represents a 2.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 490,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,564,585.40. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 720,576 shares of company stock valued at $131,249,694 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AVGO. Wall Street Zen upgraded Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group increased their price target on Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $272.71.

Broadcom Price Performance

AVGO stock opened at $244.28 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 199.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50-day moving average is $205.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.37. Broadcom Inc. has a 1 year low of $128.50 and a 1 year high of $265.43.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted 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 company had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. Broadcom’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.96 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, April 7th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 88.39%.

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.