Americana Partners LLC Acquires 148,796 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Americana Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 440.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 182,617 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 148,796 shares during the quarter. Broadcom comprises approximately 1.7% of Americana Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $42,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVGO. State Street Corp boosted its position in Broadcom by 948.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,434,213 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $31,814,902,000 after purchasing an additional 166,844,263 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 976.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,188,826 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $17,055,760,000 after purchasing an additional 89,975,941 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 1,121.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 90,400,508 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $15,594,088,000 after purchasing an additional 82,998,328 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 842.4% in the third 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 boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 975.4% in the third 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. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In related news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,168 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.79, for a total value of $4,815,916.72. Following the sale, the insider now owns 321,660 shares in the company, valued at $76,809,191.40. The trade was a 5.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 45,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.96, for a total transaction of $10,798,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 842,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,246,926.56. This trade represents a 5.07 % 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. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AVGO shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Broadcom to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Broadcom presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.04.

Broadcom Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO opened at $228.73 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $119.76 and a 52 week high of $251.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $229.29 and its 200 day moving average is $189.00. The company has a market cap of $1.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 186.57, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s payout ratio is presently 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.