QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $175.86, but opened at $167.84. QUALCOMM shares last traded at $167.75, with a volume of 2,719,301 shares.

The wireless technology company reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by ($0.07). QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 38.81% and a net margin of 26.03%.

QUALCOMM Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on QCOM. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays decreased their price target 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. Melius Research started coverage on QUALCOMM in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.32.

Insider Activity at QUALCOMM

In other QUALCOMM news, CAO Neil Martin sold 1,304 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $202,120.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 94 shares in the company, valued at $14,570. This trade represents a 93.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Alexander H. Rogers sold 10,373 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 33,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,360,975.97. The trade was a 23.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,981 shares of company stock worth $4,000,870. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of QCOM. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position 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. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 21.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,955 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in QUALCOMM during the fourth quarter worth about $2,058,000. Burney Co. lifted its position in QUALCOMM by 665.6% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 146,911 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $22,568,000 after purchasing an additional 127,722 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 51,879 shares in the last quarter. 74.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

QUALCOMM Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $188.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $161.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.40.

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.