Shell Asset Management Co. Decreases Holdings in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Shell Asset Management Co. cut its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,456 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock after selling 590 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in QUALCOMM were worth $4,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,730,186 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $17,471,231,000 after acquiring an additional 707,468 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,798,900 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $4,262,826,000 after buying an additional 670,432 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of QUALCOMM in the fourth quarter worth $2,721,882,000. Amundi increased its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,579,529 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $2,313,634,000 after buying an additional 3,905,918 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,289,513 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $2,041,535,000 after buying an additional 1,493,076 shares during the period. 74.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Heather S. Ace sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $246,784.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,762,376.32. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.10, for a total transaction of $35,265.90. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,568,140.80. The trade was a 0.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,312 shares of company stock valued at $1,948,379. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $250.00 to $216.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $185.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $185.00 target price on shares of QUALCOMM in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of QUALCOMM in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.08.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

Shares of QUALCOMM stock opened at $152.61 on Friday. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a 1 year low of $120.80 and a 1 year high of $230.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $145.95 and its 200 day moving average is $157.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market cap of $167.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.30, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.29.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The wireless technology company reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.03. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 39.51% and a net margin of 25.94%. The business had revenue of $10.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.44 EPS. QUALCOMM’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $0.89 dividend. This is a positive change from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. QUALCOMM’s payout ratio is 36.25%.

About QUALCOMM

QUALCOMM Incorporated engages in the development and commercialization of foundational technologies for the wireless industry worldwide. It operates through three segments: Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT); Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL); and Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives (QSI). The QCT segment develops and supplies integrated circuits and system software based on 3G/4G/5G and other technologies for use in wireless voice and data communications, networking, computing, multimedia, and position location products.