Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Shares Up 6% – Time to Buy?

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) traded up 6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $221.96 and last traded at $218.73. 17,312,596 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 29,991,107 shares. The stock had previously closed at $206.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on AVGO shares. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 target price (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Broadcom from $265.00 to $246.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $201.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.04.

Broadcom Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 175.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $211.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.17.

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

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s payout ratio is currently 192.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.96, for a total value of $10,798,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 842,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,246,926.56. This represents a 5.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Diane M. Bryant sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.68, for a total transaction of $3,400,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,464,352.80. The trade was a 69.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AVGO. NCP Inc. grew its position in Broadcom by 615.4% during the second quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 465 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $747,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 257.1% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 12,167 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $19,535,000 after acquiring an additional 8,760 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the 2nd quarter worth $376,000. RiverFront Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Broadcom in the 2nd quarter worth $2,778,000. Finally, Farmers National Bank raised its holdings in Broadcom by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 5,919 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $9,503,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.