Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on AVGO. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $405.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $460.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective (up previously from $460.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Broadcom from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $435.85.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of AVGO opened at $359.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 75.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.19. Broadcom has a 52 week low of $138.10 and a 52 week high of $414.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $363.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $317.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.50.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.08. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 38.82%. The company had revenue of $18.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Broadcom will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 7,498 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $347.66, for a total value of $2,606,754.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 313,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,932,307.80. This represents a 2.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $347.82, for a total transaction of $1,354,063.26. Following the sale, the insider owned 25,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,798,106.90. The trade was a 13.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 837,433 shares of company stock valued at $303,900,352 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Broadcom

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sawyer & Company Inc increased its position in Broadcom by 62.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. JCIC Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Broadcom in the second quarter worth about $28,000. 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.