Hardy Reed LLC Increases Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Hardy Reed LLC raised its position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 886.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,389 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,234 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $1,965,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AVGO. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 166.2% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,316 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,070,000 after buying an additional 1,446 shares in the last quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 1st quarter valued at $264,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 258.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 102,941 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $136,438,000 after buying an additional 74,244 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 95.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 27,454 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $36,387,000 after buying an additional 13,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 33.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 57,900 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $76,742,000 after buying an additional 14,664 shares in the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVGO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $2,400.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $195.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 50,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.37, for a total transaction of $8,168,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,331,910 shares in the company, valued at $217,594,136.70. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 18,900 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.88, for a total transaction of $3,456,432.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 380,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,596,812.80. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 311,080 shares of company stock worth $53,540,590. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of AVGO opened at $159.67 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $161.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $745.75 billion, a PE ratio of 138.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.17. Broadcom Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.31 and a 52-week high of $186.42.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.04. Broadcom had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 30.12%. The firm had revenue of $13.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 184.19%.

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.