Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Decreases Stock Holdings in Qualcomm Incorporated $QCOM

Key Points

• Empirical Wealth Management cut its Qualcomm stake by 16.2% in the first quarter, selling 6,538 shares and leaving it with 33,942 shares valued at about $4.37 million.
• Qualcomm has seen mixed institutional and insider activity: multiple hedge funds adjusted positions, while insiders sold 21,721 shares over the last three months. Insiders now own just 0.05% of the company.
• Analysts currently rate Qualcomm as a Hold on average, with a consensus price target of $221.31, even as the company reported earnings above estimates and authorized a $20 billion share buyback.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management reduced its position in shares of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Free Report) by 16.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,942 shares of the wireless technology company's stock after selling 6,538 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Qualcomm were worth $4,371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of QCOM. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP bought a new position in Qualcomm during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Qualcomm by 90.9% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 168 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qualcomm in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its position in shares of Qualcomm by 17,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 171 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Qualcomm during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. 74.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Qualcomm

In related news, EVP Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.90, for a total value of $529,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 28,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,972,189.60. The trade was a 8.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.77, for a total value of $167,267.33. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,721 shares of company stock valued at $4,044,465. 0.05% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QCOM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Qualcomm in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Guggenheim set a $200.00 price objective on Qualcomm in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Oppenheimer lowered Qualcomm from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Qualcomm from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Qualcomm from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $146.00 to $231.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $221.31.

Qualcomm Trading Down 3.2%

NASDAQ QCOM opened at $178.10 on Wednesday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $209.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $187.72 billion, a PE ratio of 19.36, a PEG ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 1.63. Qualcomm Incorporated has a 12 month low of $121.99 and a 12 month high of $259.92.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The wireless technology company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.59 billion. Qualcomm had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 42.11%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.85 EPS. Qualcomm has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.100-2.300 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Qualcomm Incorporated will post 7.96 earnings per share for the current year.

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

About Qualcomm

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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