Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 2,842 Shares of Qualcomm Incorporated $QCOM

Key Points

• Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its Qualcomm stake by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,842 shares and leaving it with 164,040 shares valued at about $28.1 million.
• Qualcomm’s latest results beat expectations, with quarterly EPS of $2.65 versus $2.56 expected and revenue of $10.60 billion, while the company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.92 per share and authorized a $20 billion stock buyback.
• Investor sentiment remains mixed: Qualcomm is expanding beyond smartphones into AI, automotive, and edge computing, but the stock still faces concerns about margin pressure, soft handset demand, and tougher competition from Nvidia in AI PCs.

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its position in Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 164,040 shares of the wireless technology company's stock after selling 2,842 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Qualcomm were worth $28,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Certified Advisory Corp boosted its holdings in Qualcomm by 0.6% in the third quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 10,085 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Qualcomm by 2.6% in the third quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $426,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Qualcomm by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,401 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA boosted its holdings in Qualcomm by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 1,847 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of Qualcomm by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY now owns 3,253 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.35% of the company's stock.

Qualcomm Stock Performance

NASDAQ:QCOM opened at $242.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.37 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $163.03. Qualcomm Incorporated has a 1 year low of $121.99 and a 1 year high of $259.92. The company has a market capitalization of $255.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 30.97 and a beta of 1.59.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The wireless technology company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.59 billion. Qualcomm had a return on equity of 42.11% and a net margin of 22.31%.The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.85 earnings per share. Qualcomm has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.100-2.300 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Qualcomm Incorporated will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Qualcomm announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 17th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the wireless technology company to reacquire up to 14.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Qualcomm Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is a positive change from Qualcomm's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. Qualcomm's dividend payout ratio is 38.70%.

Trending Headlines about Qualcomm

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualcomm this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Qualcomm is continuing to position itself for growth beyond smartphones, with articles highlighting its push into AI inference, data center, automotive, and edge AI use cases. A new PR release also noted Primax Electronics is using Qualcomm-powered edge AI platforms for next-generation conference solutions, reinforcing traction in enterprise AI applications. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Long-term investors are being reminded that Qualcomm has built substantial value over time, with one article pointing to the company’s strong 15-year investment performance and its evolution from a mobile-only chip maker into a broader semiconductor and licensing business. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage from Zacks and Yahoo Finance noted the stock’s recent weakness versus the broader market, but these pieces were largely descriptive “facts to know before you trade” updates rather than new company-specific catalysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation commentary suggests Qualcomm remains attractive on some longer-term AI-growth themes, but the stock’s near-term direction is still being driven more by sentiment around competition and margins than by this analysis alone. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Nvidia’s new RTX Spark AI PC chip is intensifying competition in Windows PCs, pressuring Qualcomm’s Snapdragon franchise and helping drive investor concern about share loss in a key growth market. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: A separate Zacks analysis warned that Qualcomm is facing margin pressure and soft smartphone demand, with its core handset business still a major earnings driver and therefore a source of near-term risk. Article Title

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Cristiano R. Amon sold 10,000 shares of Qualcomm stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $1,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 197,568 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,562,240. This trade represents a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Patricia Y. Grech sold 829 shares of Qualcomm stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.77, for a total value of $167,267.33. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 19,306 shares of company stock worth $3,435,583 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on QCOM. Loop Capital raised Qualcomm from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Qualcomm in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Seaport Research Partners reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Qualcomm in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Qualcomm in a research note on Friday, May 8th. They issued an "overweight" rating for the company. Finally, Roth Mkm began coverage on Qualcomm in a research note on Friday, May 8th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $181.79.

Qualcomm Company Profile

Qualcomm Incorporated is a global semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in San Diego, California. Founded in 1985, the company is known for its development of wireless technologies and for playing a central role in the evolution of digital cellular standards, including CDMA and subsequent generations of mobile standards. Qualcomm’s business combines the design and sale of semiconductor products with a patent licensing program for wireless technologies and related intellectual property.

The company’s product portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) platforms marketed under the Snapdragon brand, cellular modem and RF front-end components, connectivity solutions for Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth, and processors and platforms aimed at automotive, IoT, networking and edge-computing applications.

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