Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Increases Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 1,536.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,434 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 4,163 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $4,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVGO. BetterWealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. BetterWealth LLC now owns 602 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 557 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,289 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,439,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in Broadcom by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 609 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AVGO. TD Cowen raised shares of Broadcom from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $1,400.00 to $1,500.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,325.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $1,405.00 to $1,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,500.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,720.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,285.41.

Broadcom Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of AVGO stock traded up $32.20 on Monday, hitting $1,310.31. The stock had a trading volume of 1,624,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,890,674. Broadcom Inc. has a 52-week low of $615.86 and a 52-week high of $1,438.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $607.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $1,308.66 and its 200-day moving average is $1,151.47.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $10.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.95 by $2.04. Broadcom had a return on equity of 47.71% and a net margin of 29.93%. The company had revenue of $11.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.79 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 34.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 35.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $5.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $21.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other news, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 3,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,290.34, for a total transaction of $4,064,571.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,991,048.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Broadcom news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,318.97, for a total transaction of $3,297,425.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,957,296.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 3,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,290.34, for a total transaction of $4,064,571.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,991,048.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,920 shares of company stock valued at $40,306,667 in the last three months. Corporate 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.