Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Trading Up 0.3% on Analyst Upgrade

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)’s stock price rose 0.3% on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $1,405.00 to $1,500.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Broadcom traded as high as $1,289.46 and last traded at $1,287.08. Approximately 621,575 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 2,922,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,282.63.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,500.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Broadcom from $1,450.00 to $1,550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,720.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. TD Cowen raised Broadcom from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $1,400.00 to $1,500.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Broadcom in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,620.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,285.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Broadcom news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,344.00, for a total value of $6,720,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,575 shares in the company, valued at $22,276,800. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Justine Page sold 110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,323.00, for a total transaction of $145,530.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,125 shares in the company, valued at $4,134,375. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,344.00, for a total value of $6,720,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 16,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,276,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,920 shares of company stock worth $40,306,667. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Broadcom

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,347,811 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $48,386,994,000 after acquiring an additional 3,089,798 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,330,880 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $26,044,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006,223 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 5.0% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,632,123 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $10,670,149,000 after acquiring an additional 794,832 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,878,874 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,287,056,000 after buying an additional 651,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the fourth quarter valued at $6,225,987,000. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Broadcom Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $596.92 billion, a PE ratio of 47.70, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,307.00 and a 200 day moving average of $1,115.19.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $10.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.95 by $2.04. Broadcom had a return on equity of 47.71% and a net margin of 29.93%. The company had revenue of $11.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.79 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $9.83 earnings per share. Broadcom’s revenue was up 34.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 35.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $5.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $21.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.84%.

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.