Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Given “Buy” Rating at Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $255.00 target price on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock, up from their previous target price of $210.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Broadcom from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.33.

Broadcom Trading Up 24.4 %

NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $224.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 182.76, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.04. Broadcom has a 1 year low of $104.15 and a 1 year high of $228.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $174.61 and a 200-day moving average of $164.45.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 30.12%. The firm had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Broadcom’s revenue was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Broadcom will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. Broadcom’s payout ratio is currently 172.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In related news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.37, for a total transaction of $8,168,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,331,910 shares in the company, valued at $217,594,136.70. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,280 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.10, for a total transaction of $3,591,588.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 399,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,744,366. This represents a 4.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 311,080 shares of company stock valued at $53,540,590. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the second quarter worth $128,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in Broadcom during the 2nd quarter worth about $136,000. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Broadcom during the 2nd quarter worth about $169,000. Semus Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Broadcom in the 2nd quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the second quarter worth about $204,000. 76.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.