QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Up 1.9% After Dividend Announcement

Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) shot up 1.9% on Monday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $165.61 and last traded at $164.56. 8,063,912 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 24% from the average session 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on QCOM. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price target on shares of QUALCOMM in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of QUALCOMM in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of QUALCOMM from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $210.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.57.

QUALCOMM Trading Up 1.9 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $158.85 and a 200 day moving average of $168.57. 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 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.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The wireless technology company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.90 billion. QUALCOMM had a net margin of 26.03% and a return on equity of 38.81%. As a group, equities analysts predict that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Neil Martin sold 1,304 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $202,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 94 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,570. The trade was a 93.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.54, for a total value of $484,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 48,778 shares in the company, valued at $7,879,598.12. This represents a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have 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

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of QCOM. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,879 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC raised its holdings in QUALCOMM by 108.3% during the second quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 7,942 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $1,581,000 after buying an additional 103,784 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 75.5% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 43,177 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $8,600,000 after buying an additional 18,577 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,983,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 283,479 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $56,463,000 after acquiring an additional 6,889 shares during the last quarter. 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.