Blue Whale Capital LLP Acquires 806,780 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Blue Whale Capital LLP raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 1,291.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 869,245 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 806,780 shares during the period. Broadcom accounts for approximately 11.7% of Blue Whale Capital LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Blue Whale Capital LLP’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $149,945,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 842.4% during 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 962.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,997,455 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,519,591,000 after purchasing an additional 28,985,434 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 938.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 23,422,781 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,040,430,000 after buying an additional 21,168,095 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Broadcom by 858.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 18,369,841 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,168,798,000 after buying an additional 16,453,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 907.0% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 13,125,930 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,264,223,000 after buying an additional 11,822,467 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on AVGO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Broadcom from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. William Blair began coverage on Broadcom in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. TD Cowen raised shares of Broadcom to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.96.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of AVGO stock opened at $164.74 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $173.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $161.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $769.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.17. Broadcom Inc. has a 12 month low of $90.31 and a 12 month high of $186.42.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.04. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The business had revenue of $13.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 184.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Broadcom news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 25,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.27, for a total transaction of $4,240,404.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 753,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,754,425.60. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.10, for a total transaction of $3,591,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 399,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,744,366. This trade represents a 4.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 311,080 shares of company stock worth $53,540,590. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.