QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Trading Up 1.9% Following Dividend Announcement

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) shares were up 1.9% on Monday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $165.61 and last traded at $164.56. Approximately 8,063,912 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 24% from the average daily volume of 6,526,932 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.43.

The newly announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. QUALCOMM’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QCOM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target on shares of QUALCOMM in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Melius Research began coverage on QUALCOMM in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Melius began coverage on QUALCOMM in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.57.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

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, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.90 billion. On average, analysts expect that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.09 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other QUALCOMM news, insider Alexander H. Rogers sold 10,373 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.59, for a total value of $1,665,800.07. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,360,975.97. This represents a 23.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of QUALCOMM stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,882 shares of company stock worth $4,314,649. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of QUALCOMM

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 1,702.6% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,191,342 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $542,688,000 after acquiring an additional 3,014,302 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in 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 valued at $499,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,919,490 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,128,468 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $4,600,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989,725 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 30.2% during 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 boosted 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 buying an additional 1,380,500 shares during the last quarter. 74.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.