FIL Ltd Acquires 16,790 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 608,739 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after acquiring an additional 16,790 shares during the period. FIL Ltd's holdings in Broadcom were worth $141,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Bellevue Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVGO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Broadcom from $246.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $231.68.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other news, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.65, for a total transaction of $5,839,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 490,956 shares in the company, valued at $95,564,585.40. This trade represents a 5.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Broadcom Price Performance

NASDAQ AVGO traded up $9.64 on Friday, hitting $181.94. 33,932,459 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,364,653. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $195.52 and a 200-day moving average of $196.11. The stock has a market cap of $855.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.05. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $119.76 and a 52 week high of $251.88. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 113.46%.

Broadcom announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.