Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Trading Up 4.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)’s stock price rose 4.6% during trading on Monday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $462.00 to $470.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Broadcom traded as high as $348.49 and last traded at $345.75. Approximately 40,184,483 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 52% from the average daily volume of 26,500,820 shares. The stock had previously closed at $330.48.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $500.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $430.00 price target on Broadcom and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $458.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $500.00 target price (up from $460.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.30.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In related news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 38,281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.65, for a total value of $12,542,769.65. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 266,494 shares in the company, valued at $87,316,759.10. This trade represents a 12.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 130,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.02, for a total transaction of $42,382,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 595,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,189,900.76. The trade was a 17.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 458,785 shares of company stock valued at $155,508,157 over the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1,320.0% in the fourth quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 71 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. SWAN Capital LLC grew its holdings in Broadcom by 261.9% during the fourth quarter. SWAN Capital LLC now owns 76 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in Broadcom during the second quarter worth $27,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Trading Up 4.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 67.53, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $333.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $343.49.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.02. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.57% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company had revenue of $19.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 23rd will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 23rd. Broadcom’s payout ratio is presently 50.78%.

Broadcom Company Profile

Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) is a global technology company that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions for a broad range of markets. The company’s semiconductor business provides components and systems for wired and wireless communications, enterprise and cloud storage, networking and broadband access, serving original equipment manufacturers, cloud service providers, telecommunications carriers and industrial customers worldwide. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, California, and operates globally with research, development and sales organizations across North America, Europe and Asia.

On the semiconductor side, Broadcom’s portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) solutions, radio-frequency and connectivity components, Ethernet switching and PHY devices, storage adapters and controllers, optical transceivers and other networking silicon.