Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Stock Price Down 2.4% – Time to Sell?

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) shares traded down 2.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $289.96 and last traded at $293.41. 27,797,091 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 4% from the average session volume of 26,661,613 shares. The stock had previously closed at $300.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $485.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Broadcom from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Zacks Research lowered Broadcom from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.30.

Broadcom Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $327.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $344.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 57.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.22.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.02. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.57% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $19.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 23rd. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Broadcom’s payout ratio is 50.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Broadcom news, insider S. Ram Velaga sold 38,841 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.60, for a total transaction of $12,491,265.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 96,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,920,875.20. The trade was a 28.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 39,116 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.61, for a total value of $12,580,096.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 74,626 shares in the company, valued at $24,000,467.86. This trade represents a 34.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 403,049 shares of company stock worth $133,459,315. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Counsel LLC NY purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 2nd quarter valued at $221,000. Providence First Trust Co raised its position in shares of Broadcom by 1,099.3% in the 3rd quarter. Providence First Trust Co now owns 8,923 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,944,000 after buying an additional 8,179 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of Broadcom by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 323,587 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $109,492,000 after buying an additional 10,786 shares during the period. Lmcg Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 9.4% in the third quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 38,961 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $12,854,000 after acquiring an additional 3,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 13.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,877,709 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,063,501,000 after acquiring an additional 455,851 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) is a global technology company that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions for a broad range of markets. The company’s semiconductor business provides components and systems for wired and wireless communications, enterprise and cloud storage, networking and broadband access, serving original equipment manufacturers, cloud service providers, telecommunications carriers and industrial customers worldwide. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, California, and operates globally with research, development and sales organizations across North America, Europe and Asia.

On the semiconductor side, Broadcom’s portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) solutions, radio-frequency and connectivity components, Ethernet switching and PHY devices, storage adapters and controllers, optical transceivers and other networking silicon.