Private Management Group Inc. Takes $221,000 Position in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Private Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,529 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in QCOM. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in QUALCOMM by 1.7% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,458 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC acquired a new position in QUALCOMM in the third quarter valued at about $327,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in QUALCOMM by 101.4% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 741 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in QUALCOMM by 92.5% in the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,394 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $1,823,000 after buying an additional 7,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. boosted its position in QUALCOMM by 26.5% in the third quarter. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. now owns 19,274 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $2,141,000 after buying an additional 4,035 shares in the last quarter. 74.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of QUALCOMM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $180.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $152.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $173.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.86.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QCOM traded up $2.28 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $163.63. 6,048,149 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,539,485. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.41. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a twelve month low of $101.47 and a twelve month high of $177.59.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The wireless technology company reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $9.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.50 billion. QUALCOMM had a net margin of 21.39% and a return on equity of 38.06%. As a group, research analysts predict that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This is a boost from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. QUALCOMM’s payout ratio is 46.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other QUALCOMM news, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of QUALCOMM stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total value of $55,586.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $103,232.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other QUALCOMM news, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total value of $55,586.93. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,232.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Cristiano R. Amon sold 8,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.50, for a total transaction of $1,291,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,300 shares in the company, valued at $3,875,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,260 shares of company stock worth $5,973,728 in the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

QUALCOMM 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.