Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Stock Price Down 0.8% After Analyst Downgrade

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) was down 0.8% during mid-day trading on Monday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $173.50 to $170.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Broadcom traded as low as $135.70 and last traded at $135.85. Approximately 11,353,896 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 31,242,045 shares. The stock had previously closed at $136.99.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on AVGO. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $162.50 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Melius Research started coverage on Broadcom in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $185.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Broadcom from $2,000.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Melius started coverage on Broadcom in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $185.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $189.23.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Justine Page sold 2,540 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.03, for a total value of $444,566.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,809,714.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Broadcom news, Director Justine Page sold 2,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.03, for a total transaction of $444,566.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,809,714.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 7,502 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,705.95, for a total transaction of $12,798,036.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 138,191 shares in the company, valued at $235,746,936.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AVGO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 3.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,651,273 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $59,181,244,000 after buying an additional 1,303,462 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,330,880 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $26,044,294,000 after buying an additional 1,006,223 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth about $6,225,987,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,825,465 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,386,425,000 after buying an additional 170,063 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 43.9% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,141,025 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,488,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263,957 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $689.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $188.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $156.32.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.98 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 19th. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.12%.

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.