Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Trading Up 3.8% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) rose 3.8% during mid-day trading on Friday 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 $228.58 and last traded at $226.71. Approximately 19,654,818 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 35% from the average daily volume of 30,055,164 shares. The stock had previously closed at $218.32.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on AVGO. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective 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. 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, Broadcom has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Broadcom news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.14, for a total transaction of $1,671,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,171,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $195,873,037.40. The trade was a 0.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 15,950 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.44, for a total value of $2,893,968.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 737,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,781,155.20. This represents a 2.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 242,420 shares of company stock valued at $42,701,286 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Broadcom

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NCP Inc. grew its holdings in Broadcom by 615.4% in the 2nd quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 465 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $747,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom in the second quarter valued at about $209,000. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in Broadcom by 510.5% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,353,000 after acquiring an additional 1,746 shares during the period. McAdam LLC raised its stake in Broadcom by 59.8% in the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 358 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Insight Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 21.0% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 519 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $833,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Broadcom Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 198.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.