QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,620,000 shares, a decline of 12.1% from the January 31st total of 18,900,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,980,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on QCOM shares. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $199.00 to $179.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised QUALCOMM from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on QUALCOMM from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, QUALCOMM has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at QUALCOMM

In other QUALCOMM news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,337 shares of QUALCOMM stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.82, for a total value of $523,308.34. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 59,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,374,385.96. This trade represents a 5.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Neil Martin sold 744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.83, for a total transaction of $130,073.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 461 shares in the company, valued at $80,596.63. This represents a 61.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,045 shares of company stock worth $7,752,423 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of QCOM. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in QUALCOMM by 39.7% in 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 in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in QUALCOMM by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 27,596 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $4,239,000 after buying an additional 4,955 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM in the fourth quarter worth $2,058,000. Burney Co. increased its stake in QUALCOMM by 665.6% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 146,911 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $22,568,000 after buying an additional 127,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howard Bailey Securities LLC purchased a new stake in QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $240,000. 74.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

QUALCOMM Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of QCOM opened at $161.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.28. QUALCOMM has a twelve month low of $149.43 and a twelve month high of $230.63.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The wireless technology company reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.93 by ($0.07). QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 39.51% and a net margin of 25.94%. On average, research analysts anticipate that QUALCOMM will post 9.39 EPS for the current year.

QUALCOMM Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. QUALCOMM’s payout ratio is 36.32%.

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.