Bell Bank Purchases 5,849 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Bell Bank grew its position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 45.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,647 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,849 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $3,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 4th quarter worth approximately $357,000. Capital & Planning LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $969,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 78,265 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $18,145,000 after purchasing an additional 12,345 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 29,683 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,882,000 after acquiring an additional 5,322 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Broadcom during the 4th quarter valued at $71,312,000. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AVGO shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $255.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Three 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.09.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.91, for a total transaction of $29,782,175.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,014,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,489,182.32. This trade represents a 10.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.60, for a total value of $120,578,041.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 38,798,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,045,847,733.60. This trade represents a 1.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 848,334 shares of company stock valued at $163,560,669. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO opened at $252.10 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 205.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $128.50 and a 1-year high of $265.43. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $214.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $210.47.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. Broadcom had a return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The company had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.98 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $10.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.39%.

Broadcom announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, April 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor manufacturer to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.