Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Trims Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. decreased its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 18.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,960 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 1,815 shares during the quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $1,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AVGO. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 15,479 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330 shares in the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Broadcom by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,625 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,458,000 after buying an additional 1,101 shares in the last quarter. Bensler LLC raised its position in shares of Broadcom by 17.3% during the first quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 22,680 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,797,000 after buying an additional 3,338 shares during the last quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 41.9% in the first quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,050 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $176,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 4.0% during the first quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 13,807 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,312,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.60, for a total transaction of $120,578,041.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 38,798,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,045,847,733.60. This trade represents a 1.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total transaction of $148,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,695,300. The trade was a 3.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 720,576 shares of company stock worth $131,249,694 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on AVGO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Broadcom from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Broadcom from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $272.71.

Broadcom Trading Up 1.2%

NASDAQ AVGO opened at $256.07 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 208.87, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11. Broadcom Inc. has a 12 month low of $128.50 and a 12 month high of $265.43. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $211.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $208.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

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

Broadcom announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, April 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 88.39%.

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.