Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Receives Buy Rating from Benchmark

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at Benchmark in a research report issued 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. Benchmark’s target price indicates a potential upside of 17.04% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on AVGO. Hsbc Global Res raised Broadcom to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.83.

Broadcom Stock Up 20.6 %

AVGO traded up $37.21 on Friday, hitting $217.87. The company had a trading volume of 70,308,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,239,922. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 189.27, a P/E/G 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $173.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $163.86. Broadcom has a 12-month low of $104.15 and a 12-month high of $221.65.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Broadcom will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,331,910 shares in the company, valued at $217,594,136.70. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 15,950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.44, for a total value of $2,893,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 737,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,781,155.20. The trade was a 2.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 311,080 shares of company stock valued at $53,540,590 over the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AVGO. AXA S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 2.7% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 291,078 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $467,334,000 after purchasing an additional 7,608 shares during the period. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 829.8% during the 3rd quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,950 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,371,000 after acquiring an additional 7,095 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 943.3% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,136 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,473,000 after acquiring an additional 18,206 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in Broadcom by 947.2% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 689,858 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $119,000,000 after purchasing an additional 623,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Broadcom by 912.6% during the third quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,802 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.