QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) Short Interest Update

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 16,660,000 shares, a decline of 19.4% from the March 15th total of 20,680,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 8,550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Insider Transactions at QUALCOMM

In other QUALCOMM news, CAO Neil Martin sold 744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.83, for a total transaction of $130,073.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,596.63. This represents a 61.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $509,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 63,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,716,927. This represents a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,666 shares of company stock valued at $5,047,052 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,730,186 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $17,471,231,000 after acquiring an additional 707,468 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 2.5% in the fourth 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 period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,721,882,000. Amundi grew its position in QUALCOMM by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 14,579,529 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $2,313,634,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in QUALCOMM by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,289,513 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $2,041,535,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,076 shares during the last quarter. 74.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

QUALCOMM Price Performance

QCOM stock opened at $137.49 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.05. QUALCOMM has a 12-month low of $120.80 and a 12-month high of $230.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $152.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.28.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The wireless technology company reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by ($0.07). QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 39.51% and a net margin of 25.94%. On average, analysts expect that QUALCOMM will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $0.89 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. This is a boost from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on QCOM shares. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of QUALCOMM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of QUALCOMM in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $185.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on QUALCOMM from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, QUALCOMM has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $201.21.

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.