QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Down 0.5% – What’s Next?

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) shares traded down 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $159.09 and last traded at $159.34. 804,749 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 8,190,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $160.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on QCOM shares. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $199.00 to $179.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays cut their price objective on QUALCOMM from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on QUALCOMM from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Melius began coverage on QUALCOMM in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.32.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $175.03 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $164.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $163.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The wireless technology company reported $2.86 earnings per share (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 predict that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

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 issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. QUALCOMM’s payout ratio is currently 36.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Alexander H. Rogers sold 19,287 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.83, for a total value of $3,275,511.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 20,762 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,526,010.46. The trade was a 48.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Heather S. Ace sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $246,784.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,393 shares in the company, valued at $3,762,376.32. This trade represents a 6.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,968 shares of company stock valued at $4,685,077 over the last three months. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of QUALCOMM

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of QCOM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in QUALCOMM by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,730,186 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $17,471,231,000 after acquiring an additional 707,468 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,615,929 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $8,777,289,000 after purchasing an additional 870,814 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in QUALCOMM by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,798,900 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $4,262,826,000 after buying an additional 670,432 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,721,882,000. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in QUALCOMM by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,579,529 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $2,313,634,000 after buying an additional 3,905,918 shares during the last quarter. 74.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.