Short Interest in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) Decreases By 16.9%

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 56,950,000 shares, a decline of 16.9% from the December 31st total of 68,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 28,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Broadcom Price Performance

NASDAQ AVGO traded up $5.61 on Friday, reaching $221.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 41,097,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,719,020. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $213.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 180.48, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.17. Broadcom has a twelve month low of $117.43 and a twelve month high of $251.88.

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

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 192.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AVGO. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Broadcom from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $205.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Broadcom presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Broadcom news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.96, for a total value of $10,798,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 842,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,246,926.56. This represents a 5.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $1,569,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,308,000. The trade was a 17.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800 in the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 166,844,263 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 976.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,188,826 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $17,055,760,000 after buying an additional 89,975,941 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 82,998,328 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Broadcom by 842.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 35,998,595 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $6,209,758,000 after acquiring an additional 32,178,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 975.4% during 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 worth $5,833,894,000 after acquiring an additional 30,674,902 shares during the period. 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.