Broadcom Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 656,666 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 168% compared to the typical volume of 245,075 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AVGO. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Broadcom from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $233.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $221.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,280 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.10, for a total value of $3,591,588.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 399,460 shares of the company's stock, valued at $70,744,366. This represents a 4.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gayla J. Delly sold 750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.53, for a total value of $130,897.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,064,917.50. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 242,420 shares of company stock valued at $42,701,286 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Broadcom

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. NCP Inc. grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 615.4% in the 2nd quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 465 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom in the 2nd quarter valued at $209,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its position in Broadcom by 510.5% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $3,353,000 after buying an additional 1,746 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 59.8% in the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 358 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $574,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Insight Partners LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 519 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $833,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Broadcom Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO traded up $2.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $220.79. The company had a trading volume of 130,945,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,518,268. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.66. Broadcom has a 52-week low of $104.15 and a 52-week high of $251.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 191.82, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Broadcom will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. This is a boost from Broadcom's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom's payout ratio is currently 191.87%.

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.