Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Arete Research

Arete Research upgraded shares of Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on AVGO. Wall Street Zen upgraded Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Barclays increased their price objective on Broadcom from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Benchmark increased their price objective on Broadcom from $255.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.92.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of AVGO stock opened at $302.62 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $264.10 and a 200 day moving average of $223.64. Broadcom has a 52 week low of $128.50 and a 52 week high of $303.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.34, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

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

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Broadcom’s payout ratio is 88.39%.

Broadcom declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of Broadcom 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,014,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,489,182.32. The trade was a 10.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 789,784 shares in the company, 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 three months, insiders sold 830,516 shares of company stock valued at $217,224,641. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. KPP Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,158 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,454,000 after acquiring an additional 2,332 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in Broadcom by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 140,987 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $38,863,000 after acquiring an additional 5,704 shares during the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. increased its stake in Broadcom by 18.0% in the 2nd quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 4,818 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 7,095 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,956,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Paragon Advisors LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 61.4% in the 2nd quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 30,593 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $8,433,000 after acquiring an additional 11,634 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.