Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Acquires 5,353 Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Free Report) by 86.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,528 shares of the wireless technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,353 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in QUALCOMM were worth $1,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in QCOM. Eagle Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 1,427 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 1,717 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. TBH Global Asset Management LLC boosted its position in QUALCOMM by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. TBH Global Asset Management LLC now owns 7,050 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $1,083,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc increased its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,110 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 477 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.35% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target 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 reduced their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $185.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on QUALCOMM from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $189.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at QUALCOMM

In other QUALCOMM news, insider Heather S. Ace sold 1,600 shares of QUALCOMM stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.74, for a total transaction of $220,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 22,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,139,507.82. This trade represents a 6.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 1,781 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.10, for a total transaction of $235,270.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,997 shares in the company, valued at $7,661,403.70. This trade represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 423,464 shares of company stock valued at $8,135,164 in the last three months. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

QUALCOMM Price Performance

NASDAQ QCOM traded down $3.98 on Friday, reaching $154.72. 8,444,486 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,732,938. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a 12 month low of $120.80 and a 12 month high of $230.63. The company has a market cap of $169.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.26. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $145.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The wireless technology company reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.58 billion. QUALCOMM had a net margin of 25.94% and a return on equity of 39.51%. QUALCOMM's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.89 per share. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. This is a boost from QUALCOMM's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. QUALCOMM's payout ratio is presently 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.