Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Shares Up 3.5% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) shot up 3.5% on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $205.00 to $260.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Broadcom traded as high as $238.10 and last traded at $237.44. 31,036,592 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 25% from the average session volume of 41,590,264 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.41.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AVGO. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Broadcom from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $1,569,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,308,000. This trade represents a 17.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Diane M. Bryant sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.68, for a total value of $3,400,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,464,352.80. This represents a 69.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Broadcom by 948.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,434,213 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,814,902,000 after acquiring an additional 166,844,263 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Broadcom by 976.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,188,826 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $17,055,760,000 after acquiring an additional 89,975,941 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Broadcom by 1,121.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 90,400,508 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $15,594,088,000 after acquiring an additional 82,998,328 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Broadcom by 842.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 35,998,595 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,209,758,000 after acquiring an additional 32,178,542 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Broadcom by 975.4% during the third 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 valued at $5,833,894,000 after acquiring an additional 30,674,902 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Broadcom Trading Up 3.5 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 193.67, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.03.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued 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 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is 192.50%.

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.