Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Raises Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 148.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 90,644 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,144 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $21,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Broadcom by 900.0% in the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 150 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 1,323.1% in the third quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 185 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellevue Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of AVGO opened at $194.23 on Thursday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $119.76 and a one year high of $251.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $913.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 158.43, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $219.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $193.45.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued 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. Broadcom had a return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Broadcom’s payout ratio is currently 113.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on AVGO. Truist Financial upped their target price on Broadcom from $260.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Broadcom from $246.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Broadcom from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Broadcom from $201.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.48.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 12,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.62, for a total value of $2,886,323.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 325,443 shares in the company, valued at $74,728,221.66. This represents a 3.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $1,569,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,308,000. The trade was a 17.68 % 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 worth $44,964,800 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.