Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 17.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 79,582 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 16,791 shares during the quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $18,480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AVGO. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 948.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,434,213 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,814,902,000 after purchasing an additional 166,844,263 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Broadcom by 976.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,188,826 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $17,055,760,000 after buying an additional 89,975,941 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Broadcom by 1,121.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 90,400,508 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $15,594,088,000 after buying an additional 82,998,328 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 842.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 35,998,595 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $6,209,758,000 after buying an additional 32,178,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 975.4% in the 3rd 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 worth $5,833,894,000 after acquiring an additional 30,674,902 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Broadcom stock opened at $244.70 on Monday. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $117.43 and a fifty-two week high of $251.88. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.62. 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 company has a market cap of $1.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 199.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 191.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AVGO shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Broadcom from $201.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Broadcom from $233.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 target price (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Broadcom from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was 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 directly owns 842,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,246,926.56. This trade represents a 5.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $1,569,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 a total of 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Broadcom Company 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.