Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume on Analyst Upgrade

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $205.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. 21,490,299 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 27% from the previous session’s volume of 29,387,973 shares.The stock last traded at $243.08 and had previously closed at $224.80.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on AVGO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Broadcom from $205.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price target (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday. UBS Group raised their price target on Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Broadcom from $180.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Three investment 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 737,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,781,155.20. The trade was a 2.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 150,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.94, for a total value of $25,941,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,181,910 shares in the company, valued at $204,399,515.40. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 261,080 shares of company stock worth $45,372,090 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Broadcom

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Broadcom by 2.4% during the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,507 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $415,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Broadcom by 14.9% during the second quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 510 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $818,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Broadcom by 6.2% during the second quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 1,156 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,856,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Zimmermann Investment Management & Planning LLC boosted its stake in Broadcom by 4.0% during the second quarter. Zimmermann Investment Management & Planning LLC now owns 1,755 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,818,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Decatur Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Broadcom by 2.2% during the second quarter. Decatur Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,166 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,083,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.21. The company has a market cap of $1.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 203.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

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

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is 172.36%.

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.