QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Down 0.4% – Should You Sell?

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)’s share price fell 0.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $169.90 and last traded at $172.30. 2,237,561 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 7,165,713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on QCOM shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $190.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.57.

QUALCOMM Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $161.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.95. The stock has a market cap of $193.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.25.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The wireless technology company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.25. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 38.81% and a net margin of 26.03%. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.90 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.16 earnings per share for the current year.

QUALCOMM Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. QUALCOMM’s payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insider Activity at QUALCOMM

In related news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of QUALCOMM stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.54, for a total transaction of $484,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 48,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,879,598.12. The trade was a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Neil Martin sold 1,304 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $202,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 94 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,570. This trade represents a 93.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,981 shares of company stock valued at $4,000,870. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of QUALCOMM

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in QUALCOMM by 7.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,128,468 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $4,600,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989,725 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in QUALCOMM by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,670,451 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $1,485,575,000 after buying an additional 193,236 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,356,581 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $1,421,037,000 after acquiring an additional 498,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,506,863 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $1,250,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,741,432 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

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.