Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Raises Stake in Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. grew its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 224,598 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,932 shares during the period. Broadcom makes up approximately 1.4% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $77,733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVGO. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,997 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,854,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 76.5% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,339 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,693 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,499,000 after buying an additional 1,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,098,000 after buying an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Broadcom news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,292 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.60, for a total value of $11,671,507.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 327,760 shares in the company, valued at $105,407,616. This represents a 9.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 50,488 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.60, for a total value of $16,236,940.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 278,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,450,145.60. This trade represents a 15.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 324,282 shares of company stock worth $106,425,249 in the last 90 days. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AVGO. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $485.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $582.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $448.10.

Broadcom Stock Performance

NASDAQ AVGO opened at $414.14 on Tuesday. Broadcom Inc. has a 12 month low of $226.18 and a 12 month high of $442.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $374.86 and a 200-day moving average of $356.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The company has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 80.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.43.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $19.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.10 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.57% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 23rd were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.78%.

Broadcom Profile

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.