Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,191 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 979 shares during the quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $6,768,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AVGO. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 99.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC now owns 28,650 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,642,000 after purchasing an additional 14,261 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 243,801 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $56,523,000 after buying an additional 58,077 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 243,632 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $56,484,000 after buying an additional 6,872 shares during the period. Sanchez Wealth Management Group acquired a new position in Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth approximately $256,000. Finally, Santori & Peters Inc. purchased a new position in Broadcom in the 4th quarter worth approximately $229,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AVGO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho raised their target price on Broadcom from $245.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.04.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In related news, Director Diane M. Bryant sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.68, for a total transaction of $3,400,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,464,352.80. The trade was a 69.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total value of $918,560.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 46,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,655,296. This trade represents a 7.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of AVGO opened at $235.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $1.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 191.71, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.02. Broadcom Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.76 and a 12 month high of $251.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $221.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.16.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is 192.50%.

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.