Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Stock Price Up 1.6% – What’s Next?

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) shares traded up 1.6% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $230.34 and last traded at $228.25. 5,129,614 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 22,820,629 shares. The stock had previously closed at $224.70.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AVGO. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on Broadcom from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.54.

Broadcom Price Performance

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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $199.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.63. The firm has a market cap of $1.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 197.89, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.03.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. Broadcom’s 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is presently 191.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Check Kian Low sold 48,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.35, for a total transaction of $11,296,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 113,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,606,317.50. This trade represents a 29.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800 over the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Broadcom by 948.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,434,213 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $31,814,902,000 after buying an additional 166,844,263 shares during the last quarter. 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 buying an additional 89,975,941 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Broadcom by 1,121.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 90,400,508 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $15,594,088,000 after buying an additional 82,998,328 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Broadcom by 842.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 35,998,595 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $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 boosted its stake in 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 worth $5,833,894,000 after buying an additional 30,674,902 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

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.