Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Key Points

• Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. cut its Broadcom stake by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, but still held 214,094 shares worth about $74.1 million, making AVGO its 10th largest position.
• Insider selling has been notable, with Broadcom executives including S. Ram Velaga and CFO Kirsten M. Spears selling shares in March; insiders have sold 324,282 shares over the last three months.
• Analysts remain largely bullish on Broadcom’s AI-driven growth story, with several firms raising price targets and the company posting quarterly EPS and revenue above estimates, while shares recently traded near $425.19.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lessened its position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 214,094 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 3,656 shares during the period. Broadcom makes up 2.0% of Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings, 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 quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 49.4% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 798 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Ridgeline Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Ridgeline Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,225 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,685 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,275,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 203.9% in the 4th quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 310 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burr Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Burr Financial Services LLC now owns 39,042 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $13,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,966 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, insider S. Ram Velaga sold 38,841 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.60, for a total value of $12,491,265.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 96,147 shares in the company, valued at $30,920,875.20. The trade was a 28.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,292 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.60, for a total value of $11,671,507.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 327,760 shares in the company, valued at $105,407,616. This trade represents a 9.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 324,282 shares of company stock worth $106,425,249. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Broadcom News Summary

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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America dropped their price target on Broadcom from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $545.00 price target (up from $430.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Broadcom from $510.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $500.00 price target (up from $475.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Broadcom from $462.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Broadcom presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $441.63.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of 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 company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.43. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $365.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $354.62.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $19.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.60 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

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