Argent Advisors Inc. Sells 10,478 Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Argent Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Free Report) by 61.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,450 shares of the wireless technology company's stock after selling 10,478 shares during the quarter. Argent Advisors Inc.'s holdings in QUALCOMM were worth $991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in QUALCOMM by 2.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 670,432 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in QUALCOMM during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,721,882,000. Amundi increased its stake in QUALCOMM by 36.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,579,529 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $2,313,634,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in QUALCOMM by 12.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,493,076 shares during the last quarter. 74.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Inc/De Qualcomm sold 412,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total transaction of $6,600,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,333 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.10, for a total value of $486,951.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 49,779 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,711.90. This trade represents a 6.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 423,464 shares of company stock worth $8,135,164 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

Shares of QCOM opened at $158.54 on Monday. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a 12 month low of $120.80 and a 12 month high of $211.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $149.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $154.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $174.08 billion, a PE ratio of 16.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The wireless technology company reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.58 billion. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 40.11% and a net margin of 26.11%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.89 per share. This is an increase from QUALCOMM's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. QUALCOMM's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen cut their target price on QUALCOMM from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Benchmark cut their target price on QUALCOMM from $240.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $185.00 target price on shares of QUALCOMM in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of America cut their target price on QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on QUALCOMM from $250.00 to $216.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, QUALCOMM presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $186.96.

QUALCOMM Company Profile

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.

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