Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Trading Up 1.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) shares were up 1.1% on Wednesday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $315.00 to $330.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Broadcom traded as high as $279.45 and last traded at $274.68. Approximately 6,130,797 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 28,354,756 shares. The stock had previously closed at $271.80.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Broadcom in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $301.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Broadcom from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $285.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.00.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 56,310 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.75, for a total transaction of $14,176,042.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 361,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $91,117,639.75. This trade represents a 13.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.88, for a total transaction of $2,528,800.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 789,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $199,720,577.92. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 854,716 shares of company stock worth $221,433,761. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sawyer & Company Inc raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 62.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Broadcom in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Broadcom Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 104.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.12. 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 50 day simple moving average is $242.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $217.92.

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

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 20th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.39%.

Broadcom announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.