Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Trading Down 2.7% - Should You Sell?

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 2.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $248.37 and last traded at $252.96. 15,659,156 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 30,857,272 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.93.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AVGO. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Broadcom from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $270.25.

Broadcom Price Performance

The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $203.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.22. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 201.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11. 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 (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $10.96 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's payout ratio is 113.46%.

Broadcom declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, April 7th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor manufacturer to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total transaction of $148,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,695,300. This trade represents a 3.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.65, for a total value of $5,839,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 490,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,564,585.40. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 720,576 shares of company stock worth $131,249,694. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 515,388 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $120,070,000 after purchasing an additional 18,845 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC increased its position in shares of Broadcom by 1,100.8% in the fourth quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 15,707 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $3,642,000 after buying an additional 14,399 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Broadcom by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 34,380 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $7,971,000 after buying an additional 2,570 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 50.6% during the 4th quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 1,056 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the period. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Broadcom by 1,512.3% during the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 92,629 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $21,660,000 after buying an additional 86,884 shares in the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.