QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Up 0.3% – Should You Buy?

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) rose 0.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $159.12 and last traded at $158.76. Approximately 736,880 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 8,197,267 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.26.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on QUALCOMM from $199.00 to $179.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Melius started coverage on QUALCOMM in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded QUALCOMM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on QUALCOMM from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.32.

QUALCOMM Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $164.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.28.

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

QUALCOMM Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Neil Martin sold 744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.83, for a total value of $130,073.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,596.63. The trade was a 61.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.80, for a total transaction of $509,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 63,115 shares in the company, valued at $10,716,927. The trade was a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,968 shares of company stock worth $4,685,077 in the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of QCOM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in QUALCOMM by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,730,186 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $17,471,231,000 after buying an additional 707,468 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in QUALCOMM by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,615,929 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $8,777,289,000 after acquiring an additional 870,814 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in QUALCOMM by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,798,900 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $4,262,826,000 after buying an additional 670,432 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,721,882,000. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in QUALCOMM by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,579,529 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $2,313,634,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,918 shares during the period. 74.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.