Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Lowered to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AVGO. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $435.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group set a $475.00 price objective on Broadcom and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $420.00 target price on Broadcom and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.03.

Broadcom Stock Performance

AVGO opened at $332.97 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $334.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $342.61. Broadcom has a 1 year low of $138.10 and a 1 year high of $414.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted 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 39.28% 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. Broadcom’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Broadcom will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 130,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.02, for a total transaction of $42,382,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 595,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,189,900.76. The trade was a 17.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 320,316 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.53, for a total value of $128,296,167.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 37,326,540 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,950,399,066.20. This trade represents a 0.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 779,101 shares of company stock valued at $283,804,325. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Broadcom

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,252,196,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its holdings in Broadcom by 895.2% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 12,689,800 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,391,940,000 after buying an additional 11,414,701 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Broadcom by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 483,442,939 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $133,261,046,000 after buying an additional 6,222,802 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC bought a new position in Broadcom during the 2nd quarter worth $1,571,438,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 190,084,351 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $65,788,194,000 after buying an additional 5,040,801 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Broadcom

Here are the key news stories impacting Broadcom this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat expectations: revenue $19.31B (+29.5% YoY) and adjusted EPS $2.05, with AI semiconductor sales more than doubling to $8.4B — the core driver cited on the call. This beat + margin stability reassured investors. Broadcom’s Blowout Quarter Just Made the Bears Look Foolish
• Positive Sentiment: Very strong forward guide: Broadcom guided Q2 revenue to about $22.0B (well above consensus) and expects AI semiconductor revenue to accelerate to ~$10.7B, signaling continued high single-digit/huge YoY growth in AI exposure. Broadcom forecasts second-quarter revenue above estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management bullish on AI TAM: CEO Hock Tan said AI chip sales could be “significantly in excess of $100 billion” in 2027 and confirmed memory supply visibility through 2028 — a statement that supports multi-year demand assumptions. Broadcom stock rallies as CEO Tan makes strong case for why AI growth will last
• Positive Sentiment: $10B buyback announced and continued healthy cash flow — lowers share count risk and supports earnings per share. This is an explicit capital-return action that typically supports the share price. PR Newswire: Broadcom Q1 results & buyback
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst enthusiasm: multiple firms raised price targets and reiterated buy/overweight ratings after the print (examples: JPMorgan, Citigroup, Truist, Rosenblatt), signaling growing buy-side conviction. Benzinga (analyst note roundup)
• Neutral Sentiment: Product progress: Broadcom said it has begun shipping a 2nm custom compute SoC on its 3.5D XDSiP platform — positive for technology leadership but a longer-term revenue story. Broadcom Ships 3.5D Face-To-Face Compute SoC
• Neutral Sentiment: Market noise items (short-interest entries here appear to contain errors/zeros) and some analyst target dispersion — watch for churn in headlines but these are less likely to move the stock than the earnings/guidance. TipRanks earnings call recap
• Negative Sentiment: Policy risk: reports that U.S. export rules for AI chips could tighten introduce geopolitical/regulatory downside that could constrain sales outside the U.S. or complicate supply chains. This is an industry-level overhang that can pressure high-PE semiconductor names. New Export Rules Could Be Coming for AI Chipmakers’ Sales
• Negative Sentiment: Enterprise software softness: Broadcom’s infrastructure software (notably VMware-related) showed only ~1% YoY growth this quarter — a drag on overall growth and a reminder that not all segments are benefitting equally from AI momentum. WSJ: Broadcom’s AI Business Is Booming. The Rest Is Complicated.

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.