Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Stock Price Up 2.4% – Should You Buy?

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)’s share price rose 2.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $197.50 and last traded at $196.04. Approximately 6,687,381 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 29,345,129 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVGO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $205.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Broadcom to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.48.

Broadcom Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $916.37 billion, a PE ratio of 158.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $218.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

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

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 113.46%.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total value of $918,560.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 46,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,655,296. This represents a 7.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,168 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.79, for a total transaction of $4,815,916.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 321,660 shares in the company, valued at $76,809,191.40. The trade was a 5.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its position in shares of Broadcom by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 20,955 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,858,000 after purchasing an additional 3,707 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the fourth quarter worth about $244,000. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Broadcom by 829.8% during the third quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,950 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 7,095 shares in the last quarter. Motive Wealth Advisors lifted its position in shares of Broadcom by 1,076.5% during the fourth quarter. Motive Wealth Advisors now owns 4,600 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,066,000 after purchasing an additional 4,209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Broadcom by 969.3% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 386,644 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $66,696,000 after purchasing an additional 350,485 shares in 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.