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

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) dropped 0.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $265.00 to $246.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Broadcom traded as low as $198.89 and last traded at $200.51. Approximately 17,358,098 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 28,606,877 shares. The stock had previously closed at $202.13.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Broadcom from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research 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, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Broadcom news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,168 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.79, for a total value of $4,815,916.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 321,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,809,191.40. The trade was a 5.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,308,000. This trade represents a 17.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800 over the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 21.5% in the 4th quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 20,955 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,858,000 after purchasing an additional 3,707 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Financial Management LLC bought a new position in Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 7,095 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 943.3% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,136 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,473,000 after buying an additional 18,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motive Wealth Advisors increased 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 buying an additional 4,209 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Up 2.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $972.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 169.29, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $209.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.81.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is 192.50%.

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.