American Century Companies Inc. Buys 676,176 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 9.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,850,917 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 676,176 shares during the quarter. Broadcom makes up approximately 0.8% of American Century Companies Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $1,314,479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ethic Inc. raised its position in Broadcom by 1.6% during the first quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 324,090 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $54,616,000 after purchasing an additional 5,060 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 3.4% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 87,202 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $14,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,886 shares in the last quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 4.8% during the first quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC now owns 70,544 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $11,811,000 after purchasing an additional 3,229 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc raised its position in Broadcom by 20.9% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 4,266,536 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $700,395,000 after purchasing an additional 736,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Liontrust Investment Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 24.8% during the first quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 265,923 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $44,523,000 after buying an additional 52,802 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO opened at $311.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 116.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.15. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $134.90 and a fifty-two week high of $317.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $277.08 and a 200-day moving average of $228.95.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 22.64% and a return on equity of 35.49%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.96 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 20th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 20th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AVGO. Morgan Stanley set a $338.00 target price on shares of Broadcom and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Arete Research raised shares of Broadcom to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. HSBC raised shares of Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Broadcom from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total value of $219,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 24,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,742,842.60. This trade represents a 3.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.27, for a total value of $9,497,164.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 325,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $85,066,115.49. This represents a 10.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 829,716 shares of company stock worth $217,040,489 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.