Mizuho Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Stock

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Mizuho from $315.00 to $320.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock. Mizuho’s price target indicates a potential upside of 11.71% from the stock’s previous close.

AVGO has been the subject of several other reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, June 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.08.

Broadcom Stock Performance

AVGO stock opened at $286.45 on Wednesday. Broadcom has a 1-year low of $128.50 and a 1-year high of $288.28. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 107.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $252.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $219.98. 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 (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.96 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Broadcom will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 56,310 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.75, for a total transaction of $14,176,042.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 361,937 shares in the company, valued at $91,117,639.75. This represents a 13.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of the 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 owned 1,014,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,489,182.32. The trade was a 10.40% 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 worth $217,224,641. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 477,220,137 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $79,900,968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085,534 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,207,120 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $23,647,209,000 after buying an additional 3,018,294 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 93,274,317 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $21,624,718,000 after buying an additional 2,873,809 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,893,010,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 37.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 65,509,579 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $10,968,270,000 after buying an additional 17,985,046 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

About Broadcom

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.