ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 291,740 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 26,448 shares during the period. Broadcom makes up about 3.6% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $100,971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AVGO. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Broadcom by 499.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,694,313 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Broadcom by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,814,757 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,406,211,000 after buying an additional 3,160,586 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in Broadcom in the 3rd quarter valued at $987,488,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Broadcom by 41.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,520,644 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,811,046,000 after buying an additional 2,503,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Broadcom by 212.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,016,048 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $332,714,000 after buying an additional 1,919,017 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Broadcom

Here are the key news stories impacting Broadcom this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom launched the Arcot Smart Ruleset, an ML-driven adaptive fraud product that extends its AI/software revenue opportunity beyond chips — a strategic, higher-margin growth vector if adoption scales. Arcot Smart Ruleset
• Positive Sentiment: Deal momentum: Broadcom’s expanded multi-year AI chip relationships with hyperscalers (Meta, Google, Anthropic) are repeatedly highlighted by analysts and trade press as the core long-term growth thesis. These partnerships underpin bullish research and “core AI infrastructure” narratives. Meta-Broadcom analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Positive media/analyst pieces (Forbes, Motley Fool coverage) reaffirm Broadcom as a top AI-infrastructure pick, supporting the case for durable demand despite a high valuation. Forbes on Broadcom
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks analyst commentary highlights strong AI momentum but also flags margin and macro risks — useful context that tempers unqualified optimism and explains mixed near-term reactions. Zacks analyst blog
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment hit from a rival/partner development: reports that Marvell is in talks with Google on AI chips sparked a rotation into Marvell and pressure on Broadcom shares — this appears to be the proximate cause of today’s weakness. CNBC Marvell/Google report
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: coverage noting Broadcom’s larger-than-market decline underscores short-term selling/volatility after a strong run; elevated valuation (high P/E) leaves stock sensitive to news. Zacks on price drop
• Negative Sentiment: Institutional trimming: Sumitomo Mitsui Trust reduced its Broadcom stake modestly, a small datapoint that can add to near-term selling pressure but is not a structural concern. Sumitomo stake reduction

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In related news, insider S. Ram Velaga sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.52, for a total transaction of $2,964,160.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 57,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,464,964.64. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a 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 shares were sold at an average price of $353.00, for a total value of $712,354.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,164 shares in the company, valued at $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 three months. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AVGO. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $485.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Broadcom from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $410.00 to $430.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Erste Group Bank lowered Broadcom from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Broadcom from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $435.30.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of Broadcom stock opened at $399.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 78.05, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.24. Broadcom Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.61 and a 12 month high of $414.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $334.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $345.69.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.02. The business 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 firm’s revenue was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 9.95 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors 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 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.78%.

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.