Riverwater Partners LLC Raises Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 45.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,044 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AVGO. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the fourth quarter worth approximately $357,000. Capital & Planning LLC boosted its stake in Broadcom by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $969,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its stake in Broadcom by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 78,265 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $18,145,000 after purchasing an additional 12,345 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Broadcom by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 29,683 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $6,882,000 after purchasing an additional 5,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at $71,312,000. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.60, for a total transaction of $120,578,041.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,798,721 shares in the company, valued at $7,045,847,733.60. The trade was a 1.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.65, for a total value of $5,839,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 490,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,564,585.40. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 849,134 shares of company stock worth $163,760,949 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AVGO. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Broadcom from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, March 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.09.

Broadcom Price Performance

AVGO stock opened at $251.26 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $219.11 and a 200-day moving average of $211.61. The company has a market cap of $1.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.10, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $128.50 and a 12-month high of $265.43.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 35.49% and a net margin of 22.64%. Broadcom’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $10.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is 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. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 20th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.39%.

Broadcom Company 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.