Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Boosts Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its Broadcom stake by 319.7% in the fourth quarter, ending with 3.3 million shares valued at about $1.14 billion.
• Other large institutions also added to Broadcom, and hedge funds and institutional investors now own 76.43% of the company’s shares.
• Analysts remain bullish on AVGO, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at Moderate Buy with a target of $448.10.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 319.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,302,160 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after buying an additional 2,515,432 shares during the period. Broadcom accounts for about 0.6% of Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned 0.07% of Broadcom worth $1,142,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVGO. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 499.4% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,634,232 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,858,789,000 after buying an additional 4,694,313 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 482,707,302 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $167,064,997,000 after buying an additional 3,919,715 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,814,757 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $3,406,211,000 after buying an additional 3,160,586 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $987,488,000. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the 4th quarter worth approximately $924,858,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,292 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.60, for a total value of $11,671,507.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 327,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $105,407,616. This trade represents a 9.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 50,488 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 278,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,450,145.60. This represents a 15.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 324,282 shares of company stock valued at $106,425,249 in the last 90 days. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

More Broadcom News

Here are the key news stories impacting Broadcom this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom deepened its relationship with the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) through a new five-year agreement centered on VMware Cloud Foundation, which should support recurring software revenue and highlights demand for Broadcom’s enterprise cloud and infrastructure products. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials named Broadcom as an EPIC Innovation Partner, signaling collaboration on advanced packaging technologies that are critical for next-generation AI chips and systems. That reinforces Broadcom’s position as a key supplier in the AI infrastructure buildout. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street continues to view Broadcom favorably, with multiple recent analyst price targets raised or reiterated at bullish levels. Investors are still focusing on Broadcom’s AI exposure and custom chip momentum. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: A Zacks screen highlighted Broadcom as a high-ROE “cash cow” alongside other stocks that may hold up better during a tech slump. This is more of a relative-strength mention than a new company-specific catalyst. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Another Zacks item discussed whether brokers’ opinions matter for Broadcom, but it did not add a clear new upgrade, downgrade, or earnings surprise. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market articles noted a selloff in major tech stocks and the Magnificent 7, which can weigh on AVGO sentiment even when company-specific news remains positive. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: One Seeking Alpha piece argued that Broadcom’s AI visibility has improved, but the valuation multiple has not expanded as much as expected, suggesting some investor caution after the stock’s strong run. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVGO has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $490.00 price objective (up from $475.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial upped 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. 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 reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $500.00 price objective (up from $475.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $500.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Broadcom presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $448.10.

Broadcom Stock Performance

AVGO stock opened at $417.76 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 81.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.43. Broadcom Inc. has a 1 year low of $226.18 and a 1 year high of $442.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $370.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $355.37.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $19.31 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

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

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