Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $206.35, but opened at $218.57. Broadcom shares last traded at $218.29, with a volume of 8,081,751 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVGO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Broadcom from $201.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Broadcom from $265.00 to $246.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $205.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.04.

Broadcom Trading Up 5.3 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 175.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average of $211.24 and a 200-day moving average of $181.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. Broadcom’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 192.50%.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 45,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.96, for a total transaction of $10,798,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 842,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,246,926.56. The trade was a 5.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Check Kian Low sold 48,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.35, for a total value of $11,296,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 113,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,606,317.50. This represents a 29.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800 over the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Broadcom

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Castleview Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1,030.8% during the third quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 147 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 900.0% in the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 150 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 1,323.1% in the 3rd quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 185 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 1,073.7% in the third quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 223 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in 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.