Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Trading Down 6.3% Following Analyst Downgrade

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) shares dropped 6.3% during trading on Monday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $260.00 to $250.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Broadcom traded as low as $181.91 and last traded at $182.68. Approximately 13,163,103 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 29,385,776 shares. The stock had previously closed at $194.96.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on AVGO. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Broadcom from $265.00 to $246.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp raised their target price on Broadcom from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price 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, Barclays lifted their target price on Broadcom from $205.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.48.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value of $11,296,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 113,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,606,317.50. This represents a 29.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,308,000. This represents a 17.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Broadcom by 900.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 150 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new position in Broadcom during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Broadcom during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Broadcom Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $856.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.17. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $193.12.

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

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.