QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Up 2.5% – What’s Next?

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) shares rose 2.5% on Friday . The company traded as high as $175.90 and last traded at $176.17. Approximately 1,825,378 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 7,177,114 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QCOM has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp downgraded QUALCOMM from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on QUALCOMM from $207.00 to $204.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Loop Capital started coverage on QUALCOMM in a research note on Monday, November 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Melius Research started coverage on QUALCOMM in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, QUALCOMM has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.57.

QUALCOMM Stock Up 0.7 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $160.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $192.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.79.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The wireless technology company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.25. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 38.81% and a net margin of 26.03%. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.90 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. QUALCOMM’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Ann C. Chaplin sold 1,901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total value of $313,779.06. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 12,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,981,875.42. This represents a 13.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Neil Martin sold 1,304 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $202,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 94 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,570. This trade represents a 93.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,882 shares of company stock worth $4,314,649 over the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of QUALCOMM

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in QUALCOMM by 39.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,841,103 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $284,708,000 after acquiring an additional 523,244 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,058,000. Burney Co. grew its holdings in QUALCOMM by 665.6% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 146,911 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $22,568,000 after buying an additional 127,722 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 17.1% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 354,389 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $60,264,000 after acquiring an additional 51,879 shares during the period. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in QUALCOMM by 123.2% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 33,186 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $5,643,000 after purchasing an additional 18,315 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

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.