Empire Life Investments Inc. Buys 26,423 Shares of Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Empire Life Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 35.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,978 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,423 shares during the quarter. Broadcom makes up about 1.9% of Empire Life Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Empire Life Investments Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $34,602,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Baring Financial LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Baring Financial LLC now owns 1,359 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $470,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Five Oceans Advisors boosted its position in Broadcom by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Five Oceans Advisors now owns 8,191 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,835,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,170 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $716,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,273 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,410,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV now owns 2,168 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Broadcom

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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AVGO. Wolfe Research raised Broadcom from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Broadcom from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday. Mizuho reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $441.63.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.23, for a total transaction of $3,452,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 787,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $271,759,532.32. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Justine Page sold 2,018 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total value of $712,354.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,411,892. This represents a 10.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 324,282 shares of company stock worth $106,425,249 in the last quarter. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Broadcom Price Performance

Broadcom stock opened at $425.19 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $365.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $354.56. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.60 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 has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.05, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.43.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $19.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 23rd were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. 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 payout ratio 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.