Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 141,977 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 18% compared to the typical volume of 120,077 call options.

Broadcom Stock Up 5.3 %

AVGO stock traded up $8.34 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $166.03. 15,108,099 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,776,469. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $189.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $151.61. Broadcom has a 52 week low of $79.51 and a 52 week high of $185.16. The company has a market cap of $77.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.17.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $12.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.06 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 24.10% and a return on equity of 35.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Broadcom will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Monday, June 24th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 24th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.03%.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Broadcom

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AVGO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,225,987,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the first quarter worth $2,835,737,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $59,181,244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,462 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 43.9% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,141,025 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,488,556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263,957 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Broadcom by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,330,880 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $26,044,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,223 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Broadcom from $160.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.80 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $185.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.08.

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.