Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Trading Down 4.5% – Here’s Why

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) traded down 4.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $177.61 and last traded at $182.97. 14,885,391 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 29,474,528 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.58.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVGO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 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 note on Friday, December 13th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $265.00 to $246.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.04.

Broadcom Trading Down 4.9 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $853.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 148.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $224.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $192.64. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s payout ratio is 191.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In related news, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total transaction of $1,569,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,308,000. This represents a 17.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,168 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AVGO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 475,134,603 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $110,155,206,000 after buying an additional 6,573,204 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Broadcom by 948.5% during the 3rd 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 lifted its position in Broadcom by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,207,120 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $23,647,209,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018,294 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Broadcom by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 93,274,317 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $21,624,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,873,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $16,893,010,000. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.