Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Grows Position in Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Key Points

• Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its Broadcom stake by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, ending with 643,130 shares valued at about $222.6 million. Broadcom is now its 14th largest holding and makes up roughly 1.3% of its portfolio.
• Broadcom continues to attract heavy institutional interest, with 76.43% of shares owned by hedge funds and other institutions. However, insiders have been selling stock, including large March sales by Mark David Brazeal and S. Ram Velaga.
• The company posted solid quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus target price of $435.30. At the same time, recent reports about a financing snag in Broadcom’s planned OpenAI custom chip deal have raised concerns about a key AI growth driver.

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 643,130 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after purchasing an additional 21,900 shares during the quarter. Broadcom makes up about 1.3% of Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Broadcom were worth $222,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Miller Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the third quarter worth $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Broadcom during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on AVGO shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Broadcom from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Broadcom from $510.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Erste Group Bank lowered Broadcom from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. DA Davidson raised Broadcom to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Broadcom from $370.00 to $340.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Broadcom currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $435.30.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 50,488 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 278,141 shares in the company, valued at $89,450,145.60. This represents a 15.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider S. Ram Velaga sold 38,841 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.60, for a total value of $12,491,265.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 96,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,920,875.20. This trade represents a 28.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 324,282 shares of company stock worth $106,425,249 over the last three months. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Broadcom Price Performance

Broadcom stock opened at $430.00 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 83.98, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.43. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $352.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $351.28. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $206.52 and a fifty-two week high of $437.68.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $19.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.95 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 23rd were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 23rd. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.78%.

Key Broadcom News

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

Broadcom 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.

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.