Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV Cuts Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV decreased its position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,512 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 73 shares during the quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $755,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 515,388 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $120,070,000 after buying an additional 18,845 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 1,100.8% in the fourth quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 15,707 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,399 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 34,380 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $7,971,000 after purchasing an additional 2,570 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 50.6% during the 4th quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 1,056 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the period. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1,512.3% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 92,629 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $21,660,000 after purchasing an additional 86,884 shares in the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Broadcom Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Broadcom stock opened at $252.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 205.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $128.50 and a fifty-two week high of $265.43. The business’s fifty day moving average is $214.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $210.47.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. The firm 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $10.96 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, April 7th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor manufacturer to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 20th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Broadcom’s payout ratio is 88.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of Broadcom 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 38,798,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,045,847,733.60. The trade was a 1.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.65, for a total value of $5,839,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 490,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,564,585.40. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 848,334 shares of company stock valued at $163,560,669. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Broadcom to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Broadcom from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.09.

About Broadcom

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.