Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 5,826 Shares of Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. trimmed its Broadcom stake by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 5,826 shares and ending with 248,865 shares valued at about $86.1 million.
• Broadcom continues to draw strong institutional interest, with firms like Vanguard, Invesco, and Legal & General increasing their holdings; overall, institutional investors own 76.43% of the company.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on Broadcom, with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and an average price target of $435.30, even as some reports highlight uncertainty around OpenAI’s planned $18 billion custom chip deal.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 248,865 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 5,826 shares during the period. Broadcom accounts for 1.0% of Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $86,146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 482,707,302 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $167,064,997,000 after purchasing an additional 3,919,715 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 1.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 39,149,651 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $12,915,861,000 after purchasing an additional 700,021 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 2.3% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 33,450,786 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $11,035,749,000 after purchasing an additional 748,709 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 4.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,511,195 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $9,736,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 3.3% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 22,216,816 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $7,453,320,000 after purchasing an additional 716,523 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Broadcom from $510.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wolfe Research raised Broadcom from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Broadcom from $458.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Broadcom from $370.00 to $340.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Broadcom presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $435.30.

Broadcom News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Broadcom this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Broadcom shares are under pressure after reports said OpenAI’s planned $18 billion custom chip deal with the company hit a financing roadblock, creating uncertainty around a key AI revenue driver. Broadcom shares slump as OpenAI’s $18B custom chip deal hits financing snag
• Negative Sentiment: Another report framed the OpenAI issue as a major setback for Broadcom’s custom AI chip ambitions, adding concern that one of its flagship customer relationships may not be as immediately monetizable as investors hoped. Broadcom's OpenAI mega AI deal hits $18 billion wall
• Neutral Sentiment: Broadcom also announced VMware by Broadcom VCF 9.1, a product update aimed at accelerating production AI workloads in private clouds, which supports the company’s long-term enterprise AI strategy. Broadcom (AVGO) Launches VCF 9.1 to Accelerate Production AI in Private Clouds
• Neutral Sentiment: Several commentary pieces remained constructive on Broadcom’s position in the AI infrastructure stack, noting that recent hyperscaler results still support demand for chips and networking tied to AI buildouts. Big Tech earnings support Broadcom’s outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Broadcom was also mentioned in a public-sector VMware partnership update, which could help broaden enterprise distribution but is not likely the main driver of the stock today. evoila U.S. and Carahsoft Partner to Deliver VMware by Broadcom Services to the Public Sector

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other news, insider S. Ram Velaga sold 8,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Friday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.52, for a total transaction of $2,964,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 57,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,464,964.64. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 50,488 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.60, for a total value of $16,236,940.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 278,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at $89,450,145.60. This trade represents a 15.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 324,282 shares of company stock valued at $106,425,249. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of AVGO opened at $430.00 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of $352.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $351.28. Broadcom Inc. has a twelve month low of $206.52 and a twelve month high of $437.68.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $19.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.10 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 36.57%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict 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 dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 23rd. Broadcom's payout ratio is presently 50.78%.

Broadcom Company Profile

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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