AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 421,291 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

AQR Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,848,831 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 421,291 shares during the quarter. Broadcom comprises 0.9% of AQR Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Broadcom worth $660,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVGO. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $704,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 49,087,351 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $11,380,411,000 after purchasing an additional 5,258,925 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 99,736 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $23,123,000 after acquiring an additional 9,871 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 106.9% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,265,301 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $293,347,000 after buying an additional 653,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whalerock Point Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Broadcom by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 7,227 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,676,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.65, for a total value of $5,839,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 490,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,564,585.40. This represents a 5.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total transaction of $148,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,695,300. This trade represents a 3.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 719,776 shares of company stock valued at $131,065,542 in the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AVGO shares. Mizuho decreased their target price on Broadcom from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Broadcom from $246.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Bank of America cut their target price on Broadcom from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, March 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.48.

Broadcom Trading Up 0.1 %

AVGO opened at $192.47 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $904.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 156.99, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $183.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.24. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.33 and a fifty-two week high of $251.88.

Broadcom declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, April 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor manufacturer to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 113.46%.

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.