Southland Equity Partners LLC Trims Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Southland Equity Partners LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,681 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 195 shares during the quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 948.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,434,213 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,814,902,000 after acquiring an additional 166,844,263 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 976.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,188,826 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $17,055,760,000 after acquiring an additional 89,975,941 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 1,121.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 90,400,508 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $15,594,088,000 after acquiring an additional 82,998,328 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 842.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 35,998,595 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,209,758,000 after acquiring an additional 32,178,542 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 975.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,819,675 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,833,894,000 after acquiring an additional 30,674,902 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,168 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.79, for a total transaction of $4,815,916.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 321,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,809,191.40. This represents a 5.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total value of $918,560.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 46,400 shares in the company, valued at $10,655,296. The trade was a 7.94 % decrease in their position. 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 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $244.70 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $208.80 and its 200 day moving average is $180.62. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $117.43 and a fifty-two week high of $251.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 199.59, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 191.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Broadcom from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Broadcom from $201.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Broadcom from $205.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.83.

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.