Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $233.00 to $265.00. The stock had previously closed at $220.20, but opened at $226.69. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Broadcom shares last traded at $227.94, with a volume of 9,733,892 shares trading hands.

AVGO has been the subject of a number of other reports. William Blair began coverage on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Broadcom from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.88.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 15,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.44, for a total transaction of $2,893,968.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 737,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,781,155.20. The trade was a 2.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 150,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.94, for a total transaction of $25,941,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,181,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,399,515.40. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 242,420 shares of company stock worth $42,701,286. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AVGO. State Street Corp raised 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 purchasing an additional 166,844,263 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Broadcom by 1,121.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Broadcom by 842.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $5,833,894,000 after acquiring an additional 30,674,902 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.66. The company has a market capitalization of $1.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 198.04, 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 quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s payout ratio is 191.87%.

Broadcom Company Profile

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.