Broadcom Inc. $AVGO Shares Sold by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,811,124 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 148,048 shares during the period. Broadcom accounts for about 2.4% of William Blair Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 0.06% of Broadcom worth $927,418,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 0.6% during the third quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC now owns 4,781 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Broadcom by 1.4% during the third quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,170 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $716,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,273 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,410,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. McHugh Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. McHugh Group LLC now owns 8,433 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,782,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Thornton Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1.4% in the third quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Down 0.7%

AVGO stock opened at $319.55 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $336.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $342.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.13, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.22. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $138.10 and a fifty-two week high of $414.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.71.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $18.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.46 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 37.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 28.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 22nd were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 22nd. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Broadcom’s payout ratio is currently 54.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $347.82, for a total value of $10,434,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 277,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $96,428,573.34. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 320,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.53, for a total transaction of $128,296,167.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 37,326,540 shares in the company, valued at $14,950,399,066.20. This trade represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 779,101 shares of company stock worth $283,804,325. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVGO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Raymond James Financial set a $420.00 price objective on Broadcom and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Zacks Research upgraded Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Mizuho set a $480.00 price target on Broadcom and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $433.13.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) is a global technology company that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions for a broad range of markets. The company’s semiconductor business provides components and systems for wired and wireless communications, enterprise and cloud storage, networking and broadband access, serving original equipment manufacturers, cloud service providers, telecommunications carriers and industrial customers worldwide. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, California, and operates globally with research, development and sales organizations across North America, Europe and Asia.

On the semiconductor side, Broadcom’s portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) solutions, radio-frequency and connectivity components, Ethernet switching and PHY devices, storage adapters and controllers, optical transceivers and other networking silicon.