Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 167,450 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 916.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 185,724 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 167,450 shares during the quarter. Broadcom makes up approximately 0.5% of Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $32,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 858.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 18,369,841 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,168,798,000 after buying an additional 16,453,718 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Broadcom by 917.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,701,500 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,203,837,000 after acquiring an additional 11,453,554 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Broadcom by 855.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 12,674,158 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,186,292,000 after acquiring an additional 11,347,563 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Broadcom by 908.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 11,374,079 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,962,029,000 after acquiring an additional 10,245,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in Broadcom by 1,045.4% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 8,273,157 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,427,120,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550,878 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. William Blair began coverage on Broadcom in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Mizuho boosted their target price on Broadcom from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Broadcom from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.79.

Broadcom Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ AVGO opened at $165.67 on Tuesday. Broadcom Inc. has a 12 month low of $90.31 and a 12 month high of $186.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $173.34 and a 200-day moving average of $159.57. The company has a market cap of $773.77 billion, a PE ratio of 143.94, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.17.

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

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were paid a $0.53 dividend. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 184.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.94, for a total value of $25,941,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,181,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,399,515.40. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,280 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.10, for a total transaction of $3,591,588.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 399,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,744,366. The trade was a 4.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 311,080 shares of company stock valued at $53,540,590 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.