Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. Buys 1,442 Shares of Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Key Points

• Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. increased its stake in Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 41% in Q4, buying 1,442 shares to hold 4,963 shares valued at about $1.718 million.
• Broadcom’s fundamentals and outlook remain strong — market cap near $1.98 trillion, Q-quarter EPS beat ($2.05 vs. $2.03) and revenue of $19.31B (up 29.5%) — and AI partnerships with Meta/Google plus analyst upgrades drive a MarketBeat consensus price target of $435.30 (some firms as high as $500).
• Meanwhile, insiders have sold roughly 324,282 shares (~$106.4M) over the last 90 days and the stock trades at a high P/E (~81.7) with a low yield (~0.6%), signaling potential valuation risk despite positive momentum.

Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. increased its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 41.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,963 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after purchasing an additional 1,442 shares during the period. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $1,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Broadcom by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 39,149,651 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $12,915,861,000 after purchasing an additional 700,021 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Broadcom by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 33,450,786 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $11,035,749,000 after purchasing an additional 748,709 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Broadcom by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,511,195 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $9,736,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124,590 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Broadcom by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 22,216,816 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $7,453,320,000 after purchasing an additional 716,523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,611,740 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $4,160,740,000 after purchasing an additional 237,295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of Broadcom stock opened at $418.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $342.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $348.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.68, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.24. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $184.02 and a 52 week high of $429.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.90.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $19.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.10 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.57% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.95 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 23rd were given a $0.65 dividend. 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 is currently 50.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 50,488 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.60, for a total value of $16,236,940.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 278,141 shares in the company, valued at $89,450,145.60. This represents a 15.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gayla J. Delly sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.31, for a total transaction of $358,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 32,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,592,045.12. This represents a 3.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 324,282 shares of company stock worth $106,425,249 over the last 90 days. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Broadcom

Here are the key news stories impacting Broadcom this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom deepened multi‑year, multi‑generation partnerships with Meta and expanded work with Google Cloud (custom AI silicon + cloud networking), strengthening revenue visibility from hyperscalers and bolstering AVGO’s AI growth narrative. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage and price‑target upside: bullish research and bullish price‑target narratives (e.g., 247WallStreet’s $475/$558 bull case) feed investor expectations for continued upside and justify momentum buying. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst / trade coverage and retail interest: pieces highlighting Broadcom as an AI “growth superstar” and mentions in “AI chip” leader lists keep the stock on buy lists and in thematic ETFs, supporting demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: IBD technical framing: Broadcom is cited as “near buy zone” by IBD-style coverage — technical narratives can trigger momentum-driven inflows from traders. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector tailwinds: multiple industry roundup pieces list AVGO among top AI semiconductor plays (alongside NVDA, MU), highlighting structural demand but not changing fundamentals immediately. Such coverage keeps AVGO in thematic funds. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF / momentum context: mentions in ETF strategy stories (JPMorgan active bench, momentum ETFs) indicate flows into tech/momentum buckets could benefit AVGO, but effects depend on index/ETF rebalancings. Read More. and Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Short‑term pull vs. market: a Zacks note flagged AVGO’s decline amid a broader market uptick — suggesting profit‑taking or sector rotation pressured the stock despite positive company news. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation caution: coverage noting a stretched valuation and rich multiples vs. near‑term fundamentals raises the risk of sharper pullbacks if AI demand or margins disappoint. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on AVGO. Mizuho restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $370.00 to $340.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Broadcom from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $410.00 to $430.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $435.30.

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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