Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Buys 54,144 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 148.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,644 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,144 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $21,014,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Broadcom by 858.7% in the 3rd 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 period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,908 shares in the last quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 896.9% in the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,911 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 2,619 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 884.6% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 119,529 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $20,619,000 after purchasing an additional 107,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1,019.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,182,409 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,238,966,000 after purchasing an additional 6,540,800 shares in the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 12,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.62, for a total transaction of $2,886,323.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 325,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,728,221.66. The trade was a 3.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $1,569,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,450 shares in the company, valued at $7,308,000. The trade was a 17.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AVGO. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $246.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Bank of America raised their price target on Broadcom from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.48.

Broadcom Stock Performance

AVGO stock opened at $194.23 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $219.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $193.45. The company has a market capitalization of $913.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 158.43, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.01. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.76 and a 1-year high of $251.88.

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, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $14.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 113.46%.

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.