QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Up 0.7% – Here’s Why

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)’s stock price shot up 0.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $159.40 and last traded at $159.36. 2,839,592 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 8,968,625 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.24.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on QCOM. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $207.00 to $204.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price target on shares of QUALCOMM in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $210.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of QUALCOMM from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, QUALCOMM presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

QUALCOMM Trading Up 0.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $177.05 billion, a PE ratio of 17.73, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $162.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.04.

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

QUALCOMM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. QUALCOMM’s payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.95, for a total value of $497,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,535,970.15. This represents a 5.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Neil Martin sold 1,304 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were 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 approximately $14,570. This trade represents a 93.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,127 shares of company stock valued at $6,710,055. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QUALCOMM

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in QCOM. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in QUALCOMM during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in QUALCOMM during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in QUALCOMM by 137.3% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 197 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc purchased a new position in shares of QUALCOMM in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in QUALCOMM during the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other 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.