Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 56,950,000 shares, a decline of 16.9% from the December 15th total of 68,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 28,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVGO has been the topic of several research reports. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on Broadcom from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $223.54.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other news, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total transaction of $918,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 46,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,655,296. The trade was a 7.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Diane M. Bryant sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.68, for a total transaction of $3,400,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,464,352.80. This trade represents a 69.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Broadcom in the 2nd quarter valued at $128,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the second quarter valued at about $136,000. RiverGlades Family Offices LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the second quarter worth about $210,000. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN purchased a new position in Broadcom during the second quarter worth about $228,000. Finally, Security National Bank of Sioux City Iowa IA acquired a new stake in Broadcom in the second quarter valued at about $234,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of Broadcom stock traded up $1.41 during trading on Thursday, reaching $229.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,427,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,616,039. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $200.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.11. Broadcom has a fifty-two week low of $109.02 and a fifty-two week high of $251.88. The firm has a market cap of $1.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 187.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. 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 previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Broadcom’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Broadcom will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 192.50%.

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.