Traders Buy High Volume of QUALCOMM Put Options (NASDAQ:QCOM)

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 88,423 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 31% compared to the average daily volume of 67,643 put options.

Insider Activity

In other QUALCOMM news, CTO James H. Thompson sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.47, for a total value of $1,595,760.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 237,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,452,516.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other QUALCOMM news, CTO James H. Thompson sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.47, for a total value of $1,595,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 237,893 shares in the company, valued at $47,452,516.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.61, for a total value of $616,830.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,407,124.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 19,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,496,590. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. City Holding Co. lifted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 3.5% during the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 5,884 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $996,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 173.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 842,357 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $167,781,000 after buying an additional 534,176 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new position in shares of QUALCOMM in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,104,000. SWP Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $593,000. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its holdings in QUALCOMM by 94.3% during the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 988,683 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $196,807,000 after acquiring an additional 479,722 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

QUALCOMM Price Performance

QCOM stock opened at $168.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $188.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.01. QUALCOMM has a 12-month low of $104.33 and a 12-month high of $230.63.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The wireless technology company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $9.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.23 billion. QUALCOMM had a net margin of 23.32% and a return on equity of 38.12%. On average, analysts expect that QUALCOMM will post 8 earnings per share for the current year.

QUALCOMM Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.70%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on QCOM. DZ Bank upgraded QUALCOMM from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded QUALCOMM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Bank of America upped their target price on QUALCOMM from $180.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $180.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.67.

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.