Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 424,434 call options on the company. This is an increase of 63% compared to the typical volume of 260,591 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Broadcom news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.88, for a total value of $2,528,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 789,784 shares in the company, valued at $199,720,577.92. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.91, for a total transaction of $29,782,175.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,014,152 shares in the company, valued at $256,489,182.32. This represents a 10.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 848,334 shares of company stock valued at $163,560,669. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $357,000. Capital & Planning LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $969,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 78,265 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $18,145,000 after purchasing an additional 12,345 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 29,683 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $6,882,000 after purchasing an additional 5,322 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $71,312,000. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Broadcom Price Performance

Broadcom stock traded up $2.75 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $252.12. The company had a trading volume of 17,259,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,032,633. The company has a market capitalization of $1.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 94.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.11. Broadcom has a 12-month low of $128.50 and a 12-month high of $265.43. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $216.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $210.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 22.64% and a return on equity of 35.49%. Broadcom's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $10.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Broadcom will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom declared that its board has authorized a share 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 purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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 paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AVGO. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, June 6th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Broadcom to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, 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, June 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $276.09.

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.

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