Legal & General Group Plc Sells 2,614,556 Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) by 22.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,956,342 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock after selling 2,614,556 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.81% of QUALCOMM worth $1,375,873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in QUALCOMM during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. CKW Financial Group bought a new stake in QUALCOMM in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of QUALCOMM during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of QUALCOMM during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

NASDAQ QCOM opened at $127.46 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.62, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $161.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $163.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 2.62. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $123.11 and a fifty-two week high of $230.63.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The wireless technology company reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by ($0.07). QUALCOMM had a net margin of 25.94% and a return on equity of 39.51%. On average, equities analysts forecast that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

QUALCOMM Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. QUALCOMM’s payout ratio is 36.32%.

Insider Transactions at QUALCOMM

In other QUALCOMM news, insider Heather S. Ace sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $246,784.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,762,376.32. This trade represents a 6.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.80, for a total value of $509,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 63,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,716,927. The trade was a 4.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,968 shares of company stock valued at $4,685,077 in the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QCOM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price objective on QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of QUALCOMM in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Melius began coverage on shares of QUALCOMM in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut QUALCOMM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.32.

QUALCOMM 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.