Truist Financial Corp Increases Holdings in Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Key Points

• Truist Financial Corp increased its Broadcom stake by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, adding 69,456 shares and bringing its total to 2,965,463 shares valued at about $1.03 billion.
• Broadcom continues to attract heavy institutional interest, with 76.43% of shares held by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Several smaller firms also initiated new positions during the period.
• Analyst sentiment remains mostly positive despite some mixed calls: Broadcom has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $435.30, while recent headlines highlighted concerns over a financing snag in its reported OpenAI custom chip deal.

Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,965,463 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after acquiring an additional 69,456 shares during the period. Broadcom comprises about 1.4% of Truist Financial Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Truist Financial Corp owned about 0.06% of Broadcom worth $1,026,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JCIC Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Miller Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Broadcom from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Broadcom from $510.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Seaport Research Partners reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Broadcom from $462.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $435.30.

Key Headlines Impacting Broadcom

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 Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, Director Justine Page sold 2,018 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total transaction of $712,354.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,164 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,411,892. The trade was a 10.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.23, for a total value of $3,452,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 787,184 shares in the company, valued at $271,759,532.32. The trade was a 1.25% 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 over the last ninety days. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO opened at $430.00 on Monday. The business's 50 day moving average is $352.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $351.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.73. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $206.52 and a 1-year high of $437.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 83.98, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.43.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Broadcom had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 36.57%.The company had revenue of $19.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 29.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.95 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AVGO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.