Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,061,598 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 879,189 shares during the period. Broadcom comprises approximately 1.0% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Broadcom worth $1,869,001,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its position in shares of Broadcom by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 20,955 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,858,000 after buying an additional 3,707 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at $244,000. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Broadcom by 829.8% in the third quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,950 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,371,000 after acquiring an additional 7,095 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Broadcom by 943.3% in the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,136 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,473,000 after acquiring an additional 18,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motive Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1,076.5% during the fourth quarter. Motive Wealth Advisors now owns 4,600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,066,000 after purchasing an additional 4,209 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total transaction of $918,560.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 46,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,655,296. This represents a 7.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,308,000. The trade was a 17.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Broadcom from $265.00 to $246.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Broadcom to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.04.

Broadcom Price Performance

AVGO stock opened at $228.73 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $229.29 and a 200-day moving average of $189.00. The company has a market cap of $1.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 186.57, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.76 and a 12-month high of $251.88.

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

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Broadcom’s payout ratio is currently 192.50%.

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.