Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

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

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on AVGO. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Broadcom in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $301.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Erste Group Bank upgraded Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Broadcom from $260.00 to $215.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $270.25.

Broadcom Stock Down 5.0%

NASDAQ AVGO traded down $12.98 on Friday, reaching $246.95. The stock had a trading volume of 41,055,118 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,051,491. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $203.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Broadcom has a 1 year low of $128.50 and a 1 year high of $265.43. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 201.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The firm's revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $10.96 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Broadcom will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $4,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 465,956 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $83,872,080. This represents a 5.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.00, for a total value of $148,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,380 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,695,300. The trade was a 3.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 720,576 shares of company stock worth $131,249,694 in the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,893,010,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Broadcom during the first quarter worth $6,649,117,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position 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 worth $10,968,270,000 after buying an additional 17,985,046 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Broadcom by 18,179.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,276,164 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $2,892,548,000 after buying an additional 17,181,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its position in Broadcom by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,213,160 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $2,367,819,000 after buying an additional 6,809,245 shares during the last quarter. 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.