Verity & Verity LLC Raises Stake in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Verity & Verity LLC increased its stake in shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) by 11.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 64,042 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,598 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in QUALCOMM were worth $9,837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new stake in QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in QUALCOMM during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on QCOM. Citigroup dropped their price objective on QUALCOMM from $185.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of QUALCOMM in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna lowered their price target on QUALCOMM from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on QUALCOMM from $250.00 to $216.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on QUALCOMM from $179.00 to $157.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $189.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,333 shares of QUALCOMM stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 49,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,272,711.90. This trade represents a 6.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Heather S. Ace sold 1,600 shares of QUALCOMM stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.74, for a total value of $220,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 22,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,139,507.82. This represents a 6.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 423,464 shares of company stock worth $8,135,164 in the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

QUALCOMM Price Performance

QCOM opened at $158.70 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $145.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.99. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a 1 year low of $120.80 and a 1 year high of $230.63. The firm has a market cap of $174.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.26.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The wireless technology company reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $10.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.44 EPS. QUALCOMM’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.89 per share. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. This is a positive change from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.