QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Down 1.3% – Time to Sell?

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)’s stock price traded down 1.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $150.89 and last traded at $151.00. 2,113,527 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 8,932,315 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on QUALCOMM from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. KeyCorp lowered shares of QUALCOMM from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of QUALCOMM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Melius Research began coverage on shares of QUALCOMM in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on QUALCOMM from $207.00 to $204.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, QUALCOMM has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

QUALCOMM Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $163.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.18. The company has a market cap of $169.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.25.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The wireless technology company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.25. QUALCOMM had a net margin of 26.03% and a return on equity of 38.81%. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.90 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.09 earnings per share for the current year.

QUALCOMM Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Ann C. Chaplin sold 2,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.12, for a total value of $409,056.44. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 19,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,121,130.68. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO James H. Thompson sold 8,000 shares of QUALCOMM stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.80, for a total transaction of $1,358,400.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 213,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,229,207.20. This represents a 3.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,127 shares of company stock valued at $6,710,055 over the last 90 days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QUALCOMM

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in QCOM. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 43.2% in the 2nd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 199 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,791 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $475,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Blossom Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 2,551 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Sabal Trust CO boosted its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sabal Trust CO now owns 3,960 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $789,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Delta Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,221 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

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.