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

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) was upgraded by Arete Research to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

AVGO has been the subject of a number of other reports. HSBC raised Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Broadcom from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Broadcom currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.92.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of AVGO stock opened at $302.62 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 113.34, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $264.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $223.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Broadcom has a 12 month low of $128.50 and a 12 month high of $303.26.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 35.49% and a net margin of 22.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $10.96 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Broadcom will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 56,310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.75, for a total value of $14,176,042.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 361,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,117,639.75. This represents a 13.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.33, for a total transaction of $125,739,356.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 38,188,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,132,574,604.75. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 830,516 shares of company stock valued at $217,224,641. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. KPP Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Broadcom by 16.9% in the second quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,158 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,454,000 after acquiring an additional 2,332 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 4.2% during the second quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 140,987 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $38,863,000 after acquiring an additional 5,704 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. boosted its stake in Broadcom by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 4,818 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 1.5% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 7,095 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,956,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Paragon Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 61.4% in the second quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 30,593 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $8,433,000 after acquiring an additional 11,634 shares during the period. 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.