Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Stock Price Up 3.6% - Should You Buy?

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) traded up 3.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $265.87 and last traded at $262.94. 10,197,035 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 29,357,573 shares. The stock had previously closed at $253.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AVGO shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised Broadcom to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $255.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $281.25.

Broadcom Price Performance

The business's 50-day simple moving average is $227.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $214.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 100.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Broadcom's payout ratio is currently 88.39%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.17, for a total value of $10,486,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 974,152 shares of the company's stock, valued at $255,393,429.84. The trade was a 3.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $4,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 465,956 shares in the company, valued at $83,872,080. The trade was a 5.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 337,818 shares of company stock worth $84,167,415. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 477,220,137 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $79,900,968,000 after buying an additional 2,085,534 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,207,120 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $23,647,209,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018,294 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 93,274,317 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $21,624,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,873,809 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,893,010,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Broadcom by 37.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 65,509,579 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $10,968,270,000 after purchasing an additional 17,985,046 shares in the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by 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.