Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Broadcom's stock was recently downgraded from a "buy" to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, despite having a general consensus rating of "Buy" among analysts.
• During the last quarter, Broadcom reported earnings of $1.58 EPS, surpassing estimates, and achieved a revenue of $15 billion, a 20.2% year-over-year increase.
• A notable insider, Director Henry Samueli, sold 473,898 shares of Broadcom, indicating a decrease in his shareholding position by 1.23%.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley set a $338.00 price objective on Broadcom and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Broadcom in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $301.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Broadcom from $315.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $294.92.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO opened at $304.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $272.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $226.82. Broadcom has a one year low of $134.90 and a one year high of $310.34. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Broadcom news, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.33, for a total value of $125,739,356.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 38,188,575 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,132,574,604.75. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.28, for a total value of $12,664,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 415,956 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $105,353,335.68. The trade was a 10.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 830,516 shares of company stock worth $217,224,641. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 7.5% in the second quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 361,068 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $99,528,000 after buying an additional 25,126 shares during the period. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the second quarter valued at about $289,000. Summitry LLC increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 10.0% in the second quarter. Summitry LLC now owns 3,909 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,078,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 14.2% in the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,565 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $432,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 2.6% in the second quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC now owns 18,016 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $4,966,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the period. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.