Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 956,311 Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) by 222.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,385,326 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock after buying an additional 956,311 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in QUALCOMM were worth $212,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of QCOM. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,721,882,000. Amundi increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,905,918 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM in the fourth quarter valued at about $527,053,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 20,700.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,262,754 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $501,192,000 after acquiring an additional 3,247,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,493,076 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,333 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.10, for a total value of $486,951.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 49,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,272,711.90. This represents a 6.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Heather S. Ace sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.74, for a total value of $220,384.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 22,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,139,507.82. The trade was a 6.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 423,464 shares of company stock worth $8,135,164 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on QCOM shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on QUALCOMM from $175.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on QUALCOMM from $250.00 to $216.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna cut their price objective on QUALCOMM from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on QUALCOMM from $185.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, QUALCOMM has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $189.88.

QUALCOMM Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:QCOM opened at $159.13 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $174.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.26. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a 1 year low of $120.80 and a 1 year high of $230.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $144.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.14.

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

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.89 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This is a boost from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. 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.