Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Stock Price Up 3.4% on Analyst Upgrade

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)’s share price was up 3.4% during trading on Monday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $233.00 to $265.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Broadcom traded as high as $232.05 and last traded at $227.74. Approximately 12,592,956 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 30,441,766 shares. The stock had previously closed at $220.20.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on AVGO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Broadcom from $205.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Broadcom news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.32, for a total transaction of $3,446,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,151,910 shares in the company, valued at $198,497,131.20. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,280 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 399,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,744,366. The trade was a 4.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 91,670 shares of company stock valued at $16,629,388. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AXA S.A. increased its position in shares of Broadcom by 2.7% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 291,078 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $467,334,000 after acquiring an additional 7,608 shares during the period. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Broadcom by 829.8% during the 3rd quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,950 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 7,095 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in Broadcom by 943.3% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,136 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,473,000 after purchasing an additional 18,206 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in Broadcom by 947.2% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 689,858 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $119,000,000 after purchasing an additional 623,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 969.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 386,644 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $66,696,000 after buying an additional 350,485 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Broadcom Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $180.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $168.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 208.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 30.12%. The company’s revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s payout ratio is 191.87%.

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.