Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Shares Up 3.4% After Analyst Upgrade

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) shot up 3.4% during trading on Monday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $233.00 to $265.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Broadcom traded as high as $232.05 and last traded at $227.74. Approximately 12,592,956 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 30,441,766 shares. The stock had previously closed at $220.20.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Broadcom news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 18,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.88, for a total value of $3,456,432.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 380,560 shares in the company, valued at $69,596,812.80. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $1,569,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,308,000. The trade was a 17.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 242,420 shares of company stock valued at $42,701,286. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

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

Broadcom Trading Up 4.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $1.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 199.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $179.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.66.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued 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. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is presently 191.87%.

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.