QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Down 0.3% – Time to Sell?

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)’s stock price dropped 0.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $171.96 and last traded at $173.78. Approximately 1,568,705 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 6,804,365 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.36.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QCOM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered QUALCOMM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. KeyCorp lowered QUALCOMM from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Melius Research initiated coverage on QUALCOMM in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on QUALCOMM from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, QUALCOMM currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.57.

QUALCOMM Trading Down 1.0 %

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 firm has a market cap of $191.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $159.26 and a 200 day moving average of $168.08.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The wireless technology company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion for 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, research analysts forecast that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors 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 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. QUALCOMM’s payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other QUALCOMM news, General Counsel Ann C. Chaplin sold 2,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.12, for a total value of $409,056.44. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 19,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,121,130.68. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.54, for a total value of $484,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,879,598.12. The trade was a 5.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 26,882 shares of company stock valued at $4,314,649. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QUALCOMM

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of QCOM. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 1,702.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,191,342 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $542,688,000 after purchasing an additional 3,014,302 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 17,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,936,310 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $499,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,919,490 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,128,468 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $4,600,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989,725 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,506,863 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $1,250,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741,432 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 202.6% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,061,900 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $350,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,380,500 shares during the period. 74.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.