Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Stock Price Up 2.4% on Analyst Upgrade

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)’s share price traded up 2.4% during mid-day trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $205.00 to $260.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Broadcom traded as high as $237.59 and last traded at $234.80. 9,984,966 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 23,185,277 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.41.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AVGO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total value of $918,560.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 46,400 shares in the company, valued at $10,655,296. This trade represents a 7.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,168 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.79, for a total value of $4,815,916.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 321,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,809,191.40. This represents a 5.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 948.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,434,213 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,814,902,000 after buying an additional 166,844,263 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 976.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,188,826 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $17,055,760,000 after purchasing an additional 89,975,941 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Broadcom by 1,121.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 90,400,508 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $15,594,088,000 after purchasing an additional 82,998,328 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 842.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 35,998,595 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,209,758,000 after purchasing an additional 32,178,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 975.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,819,675 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,833,894,000 after purchasing an additional 30,674,902 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 191.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $200.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. Broadcom’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 192.50%.

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.