QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $179.00 to $157.00. The stock had previously closed at $148.46, but opened at $138.79. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock. QUALCOMM shares last traded at $136.96, with a volume of 4,066,022 shares trading hands.

QCOM has been the subject of several other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded QUALCOMM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on QUALCOMM from $180.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $250.00 to $216.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, QUALCOMM has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at QUALCOMM

In related news, CAO Neil Martin sold 744 shares of QUALCOMM stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.83, for a total value of $130,073.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,596.63. This trade represents a 61.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.80, for a total value of $509,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 63,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,716,927. This trade represents a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,266 shares of company stock valued at $5,267,436 in the last 90 days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QUALCOMM

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in QUALCOMM by 39.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,841,103 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $284,708,000 after purchasing an additional 523,244 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 27,596 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $4,239,000 after buying an additional 4,955 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of QUALCOMM in the fourth quarter valued at $2,058,000. Burney Co. increased its holdings in QUALCOMM by 665.6% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 146,911 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $22,568,000 after buying an additional 127,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Bailey Securities LLC bought a new stake in QUALCOMM during the fourth quarter worth $240,000. 74.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

QUALCOMM Trading Up 3.4 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.53. The stock has a market cap of $154.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.94, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The wireless technology company reported $2.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.03. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 39.51% and a net margin of 25.94%. The business had revenue of $10.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.44 earnings per share. QUALCOMM’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $0.89 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This is a positive change from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.25%.

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.