Bailard Inc. Raises Position in Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Key Points

• Bailard Inc. increased its Broadcom stake by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, buying 11,338 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 125,712 shares worth about $43.5 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly positive on Broadcom, with analysts issuing mostly Buy ratings and several lifting price targets, including Wells Fargo raising its target to $545 and citing AI semiconductor revenue running well above expectations.
• Insider selling and strong AI-driven investor interest both stood out in the article: Broadcom executives sold shares over the last three months, while the stock continues to be viewed as a favored way to play AI infrastructure growth.

Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 125,712 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after purchasing an additional 11,338 shares during the period. Broadcom makes up about 1.0% of Bailard Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Bailard Inc.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $43,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Miller Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVGO has been the topic of several research reports. Seaport Research Partners reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Broadcom from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Bank of America cut their target price on Broadcom from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research raised Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $545.00 target price (up from $430.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $441.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider S. Ram Velaga sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.52, for a total transaction of $2,964,160.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 57,932 shares in the company, valued at $21,464,964.64. This trade represents a 12.13% 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, Director Gayla J. Delly sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.31, for a total value of $358,310.00. Following the sale, the director owned 32,352 shares in the company, valued at $11,592,045.12. This trade represents a 3.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 324,282 shares of company stock worth $106,425,249. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Broadcom

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 Price Performance

NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $425.19 on Monday. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.60 and a 52 week high of $442.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 83.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.43. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $365.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $354.56.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.02. Broadcom had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 36.57%.The firm had revenue of $19.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 23rd were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 23rd. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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