Broadcom Inc. $AVGO Stock Holdings Boosted by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,877,709 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 455,851 shares during the period. Broadcom accounts for about 0.9% of AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $1,063,501,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVGO. Sawyer & Company Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 62.1% during the second quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO opened at $359.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $363.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $317.38. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $138.10 and a 52 week high of $414.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.62, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.19.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.08. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The company had revenue of $18.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 22nd. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $475.00 price objective (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Broadcom from $443.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday. Benchmark increased their price objective on Broadcom from $385.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $435.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 7,498 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $347.66, for a total value of $2,606,754.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 313,330 shares in the company, valued at $108,932,307.80. This represents a 2.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 368,797 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.91, for a total value of $124,620,194.27. Following the sale, the director directly owned 37,722,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,746,821,463.94. The trade was a 0.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 837,433 shares of company stock valued at $303,900,352. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom 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.