Broadcom Inc. $AVGO Shares Sold by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 214,094 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 3,656 shares during the quarter. Broadcom makes up approximately 2.0% of Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $74,098,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Miller Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AVGO shares. Zacks Research raised Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective (up from $475.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Broadcom from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $441.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Justine Page sold 2,018 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $712,354.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,164 shares in the company, valued at $6,411,892. This represents a 10.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider S. Ram Velaga sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.52, for a total value of $2,964,160.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 57,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,464,964.64. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 324,282 shares of company stock worth $106,425,249. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Broadcom this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom remains a favored way to play AI infrastructure, with multiple recent articles highlighting its growing exposure to custom AI silicon, data-center networking, and AI semiconductor revenue. Citi also raised its price target to $500, reinforcing optimism ahead of the next earnings report.
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo lifted its price target to $545 and said AI semiconductor revenue is running 30% to 40% above expectations, suggesting Broadcom may still be benefiting from stronger-than-expected hyperscaler spending.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent investor interest has also been supportive, with hedge fund and prominent manager buying cited in several notes, alongside Broadcom being named among top tech stocks to own as AI optimism continues to drive the market.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broadcom was also mentioned in a broader AI rotation piece that argues the next leg of the rally may be in AI bottlenecks such as optics, networking, and memory rather than only the most obvious chip winners. Broadcom was specifically named as one of the companies positioned to benefit from optical interconnect demand.
• Negative Sentiment: UBS warned that AI stocks, including Broadcom, are increasingly crowded trades, raising the risk of a pullback if enthusiasm cools or if investors rotate out of mega-cap semiconductors.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also suggests the AI chip rally may be masking broader market weakness, which can make even strong names like Broadcom vulnerable to profit-taking after a powerful advance.

Broadcom Trading Down 3.3%

AVGO stock opened at $425.19 on Friday. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.60 and a 1-year high of $442.36. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 83.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $365.61 and its 200-day moving average is $354.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.02. Broadcom had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 36.57%.The company had revenue of $19.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 23rd were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.78%.

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.