Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Stock Price

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) had its price objective upped by Morgan Stanley from $462.00 to $470.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on AVGO. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $430.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, December 12th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $485.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $500.00 price objective (up from $460.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Zacks Research cut shares of Broadcom from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $500.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued 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 price target of $435.30.

Broadcom Stock Down 0.5%

Broadcom stock traded down $1.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $331.03. 39,078,018 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,229,274. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Broadcom has a twelve month low of $138.10 and a twelve month high of $414.61. The company has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 64.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of $333.75 and a 200-day moving average of $342.79.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.02. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.57% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The business had revenue of $19.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Broadcom will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $347.82, for a total value of $10,434,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 277,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $96,428,573.34. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 1,928 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.80, for a total transaction of $631,998.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 23,582 shares in the company, valued at $7,730,179.60. This represents a 7.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 779,101 shares of company stock valued at $283,804,325 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1,320.0% in the 4th quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 71 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. SWAN Capital LLC increased its position in Broadcom by 261.9% during the fourth quarter. SWAN Capital LLC now owns 76 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Miller Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in Broadcom during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Broadcom News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Broadcom this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 beat and blowout AI momentum — Broadcom reported $19.31B revenue and $2.05 adj. EPS, with AI semiconductor sales up ~106% to about $8.4B; management guided fiscal Q2 revenue well above consensus (~$22B) and provided aggressive AI revenue visibility. Broadcom Q1 earnings beat
• Positive Sentiment: Big-picture AI guidance — CEO Hock Tan said AI chip sales could be “significantly” above $100B in 2027, reinforcing the thesis that Broadcom is a major non‑GPU AI supplier and supporting upside expectations. Reuters: $100B AI sales guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder returns — Management unveiled a $10B buyback, which supports EPS and signals confidence in the business at current levels. Seeking Alpha: $10B buyback
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and higher price targets — Multiple firms raised price targets and reiterated buy/overweight calls (JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Truist, Citi, Rosenblatt), lifting sentiment and signaling institutional confidence. Benzinga: analyst revisions
• Neutral Sentiment: Positive media and analyst write-ups — Numerous bullish pieces (Seeking Alpha, MarketBeat, CNBC, Barron’s) highlight the AI thesis and long-term upside; these help narrative but are opinion-driven. MarketBeat: analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data in feeds appears anomalous (reported as 0 shares / NaN change) and is not informative for current positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: Software segment soft spot — Infrastructure software (VMware exposure) showed only ~1% revenue growth; the software business is cited as a drag on overall results and valuation. WSJ: software drag
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/export risk — Coverage noted potential for tougher U.S. export controls on AI chips, a macro/regulatory headwind that could limit international sales upside. Investopedia: export rules
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade/valuation concerns — Zacks trimmed its rating to “hold” and some commentary flags that Broadcom’s premium multiple could cap near-term gains despite the earnings beat. Zacks: rating change

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.