Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Rating Lowered to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Sunday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on AVGO. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Benchmark upped their price target on Broadcom from $255.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $276.09.

Broadcom Price Performance

NASDAQ:AVGO traded up $1.89 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $251.26. 30,405,545 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,855,922. The firm has a market cap of $1.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 94.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.11. Broadcom has a 52 week low of $128.50 and a 52 week high of $265.43. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $217.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 22.64% and a return on equity of 35.49%. The firm's revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $10.96 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Broadcom will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, April 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor manufacturer to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 20th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is currently 88.39%.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $4,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 465,956 shares in the company, valued at $83,872,080. This represents a 5.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.91, for a total value of $29,782,175.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,014,152 shares in the company, valued at $256,489,182.32. This trade represents a 10.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 849,134 shares of company stock valued at $163,760,949. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth $357,000. Capital & Planning LLC lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $969,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC grew its position in Broadcom by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 78,265 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $18,145,000 after buying an additional 12,345 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 29,683 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $6,882,000 after buying an additional 5,322 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth about $71,312,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company's stock.

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.