Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Stock Price Up 6% – What’s Next?

Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) rose 6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $221.96 and last traded at $218.73. Approximately 17,312,596 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 29,991,107 shares. The stock had previously closed at $206.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVGO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $205.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Broadcom to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 target price (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.04.

Broadcom Stock Performance

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 market cap of $1.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 180.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.93.

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, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is presently 192.50%.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In related news, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares in the company, valued at $7,308,000. This represents a 17.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Diane M. Bryant sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,460 shares in the company, valued at $1,464,352.80. The trade was a 69.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Broadcom

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Broadcom by 948.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,434,213 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,814,902,000 after buying an additional 166,844,263 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $17,055,760,000 after buying an additional 89,975,941 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 1,121.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 90,400,508 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $15,594,088,000 after buying an additional 82,998,328 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 842.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 35,998,595 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $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 raised its position 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 valued at $5,833,894,000 after buying an additional 30,674,902 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.