First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Increases Investment in Broadcom Inc.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. has significantly raised its investment in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) during the third quarter of 2024, with an astonishing increase of 1,003.1%. According to a recent filing with the SEC, the institutional investor now owns 138,686 shares of Broadcom's stock, having purchased an additional 126,114 shares in this period. Broadcom currently makes up around 1.3% of First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.'s total investment portfolio, which places it as the 8th largest holding of the firm. The value of First Trust's holdings in Broadcom is approximately $23.92 million as indicated in their latest SEC filing.

Alongside First Trust, several other hedge funds have also made adjustments to their positions in Broadcom. Castleview Partners LLC has increased its stake in Broadcom by 1,030.8%, now owning 147 shares valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 134 shares recently. Similarly, Delta Asset Management LLC TN has upped its holding by 242.9%, owning now 24 shares valued at $32,000, and Tsfg LLC reported a 1,073.7% increase during the same period, now holding 223 shares worth $38,000. New investments in Broadcom have also been made by Krane Funds Advisors LLC, valued at about $42,000, and Highline Wealth Partners LLC at approximately $45,000. Overall, institutional investors and hedge funds control 76.43% of Broadcom's shares.

Analyst Opinions and Forecasts

Financial analysts have shared their forecasts regarding Broadcom's performance. StockNews.com recently altered its rating for Broadcom, downgrading it from “buy” to “hold” as of July 23rd. Conversely, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price from $200.00 to $225.00 and issued an “overweight” rating on October 8th. Benchmark also maintains a “buy” rating with a target price of $210.00 established on September 6th. Additionally, Morgan Stanley expressed an increase in their target price from $176.00 to $180.00. According to reports, the stock has received ratings from twenty-four analysts suggesting a buy, while two have issued a hold rating, resulting in a consensus outlook of “Moderate Buy” with an average target price of $191.54 according to MarketBeat.com.

Insider Transactions

In relation to insider trading activities, Mark David Brazeal sold 20,280 shares of Broadcom on October 7th at an average price of $177.10, totaling $3,591,588.00 in transaction value. After the sale, he retains 399,460 shares of the firm, valued around $70.74 million. Director Gayla J. Delly also sold 750 shares on September 25th for $130,897.50. Following this trade, Delly retained ownership of 34,750 shares worth approximately $6.06 million. Altogether, insiders have sold 311,080 shares valued at $53.54 million within the past 90 days, and insider ownership of the company stands at 2.00%.

Performance Overview of Broadcom

The stock price of Broadcom (AVGO) opened at $168.92 on the latest trading session, with a 50-day average of $168.94 and a 200-day average of $156.03. Broadcom boasts a market capitalization of $786.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 146.89, and a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84. It has a beta of 1.17, with recorded lows and highs over the past year of $86.00 and $186.42 respectively. Their current ratio is 1.04, quick ratio at 0.94, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Broadcom announced its latest quarterly earnings on September 5th, achieving an EPS of $1.24 for the quarter, surpassing consensus expectations of $1.20. The revenue reported was $13.07 billion, exceeding the anticipated $12.98 billion, with a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 30.12%. Comparing to the previous year, the quarterly revenue rose by 47.3%, with the company having earned $0.95 EPS last year. Analysts project a 3.78 EPS for Broadcom in the current fiscal year.

Dividend Increase Announcement

Additionally, Broadcom has recently disclosed an increase in their quarterly dividend, which was paid out on September 30th. The dividend payout was $0.53 per share, and this amount is unchanged from the previous quarterly dividend. On an annual basis, this translates to a dividend yield of approximately 1.26%, marking a payout ratio of 184.35%.

About Broadcom Inc.

Broadcom Inc. works on designing, developing, and supplying a variety of semiconductor devices, with specialization in complex digital and mixed signal complementary metal oxide semiconductor-based devices, as well as analog III-V based products globally. The organization's structure is divided into two segments: Semiconductor Solutions and Infrastructure Software.

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