Empower Advisory Group LLC Grows Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 40.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 341,753 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 98,096 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $79,232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AVGO. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 856.9% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,014,616 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $175,101,000 after buying an additional 908,585 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom in the third quarter worth $404,000. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its position in Broadcom by 900.0% in the third quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,760 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,584 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in Broadcom by 858.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 18,369,841 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,168,798,000 after purchasing an additional 16,453,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Broadcom by 2,219.8% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 3,039 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,908 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AVGO. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Broadcom from $265.00 to $246.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Broadcom news, Director Check Kian Low sold 48,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.35, for a total transaction of $11,296,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 113,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,606,317.50. This represents a 29.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,168 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.79, for a total transaction of $4,815,916.72. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 321,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,809,191.40. The trade was a 5.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Broadcom Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $226.89 on Friday. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.76 and a 1-year high of $251.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $230.21 and a 200 day moving average of $189.26. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 185.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is 192.50%.

About Broadcom

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.