QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Trading 0.6% Higher – Should You Buy?

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) shares were up 0.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $171.42 and last traded at $171.24. Approximately 1,661,198 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 6,793,774 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.24.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on QCOM. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on QUALCOMM from $207.00 to $204.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on QUALCOMM from $190.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group increased their price target on QUALCOMM from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered QUALCOMM from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, QUALCOMM has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.57.

QUALCOMM Stock Up 1.7 %

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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $192.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.25.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The wireless technology company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.25. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 38.81% and a net margin of 26.03%. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.90 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.12 earnings per share for the current year.

QUALCOMM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.54, for a total transaction of $484,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,879,598.12. This trade represents a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Ann C. Chaplin sold 2,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $3,121,130.68. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,882 shares of company stock worth $4,314,649. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in QUALCOMM by 39.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,841,103 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $284,708,000 after buying an additional 523,244 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter worth about $2,058,000. Burney Co. lifted its position in QUALCOMM by 665.6% during the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 146,911 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $22,568,000 after acquiring an additional 127,722 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 354,389 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $60,264,000 after buying an additional 51,879 shares during the period. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 123.2% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 33,186 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $5,643,000 after buying an additional 18,315 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.