Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM)

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 70,902 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 20% compared to the average volume of 58,944 call options.

Insider Activity at QUALCOMM

In related news, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total transaction of $55,586.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 689 shares in the company, valued at $103,232.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CTO James H. Thompson sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total value of $1,456,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 253,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,208,526. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total transaction of $55,586.93. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 689 shares in the company, valued at $103,232.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 44,260 shares of company stock valued at $7,429,728. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QCOM. 9258 Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in QUALCOMM by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,258 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Gould Asset Management LLC CA bought a new position in QUALCOMM in the first quarter valued at about $226,000. WBI Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 50.3% during the first quarter. WBI Investments LLC now owns 13,111 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $2,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,387 shares in the last quarter. Team Hewins LLC grew its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 2.2% during the first quarter. Team Hewins LLC now owns 7,761 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $1,314,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Affinity Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 4.2% in the first quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,997 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $1,692,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. 74.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $155.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their target price on QUALCOMM from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on QUALCOMM from $158.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of QUALCOMM from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, QUALCOMM presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.36.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

NASDAQ:QCOM opened at $179.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $200.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.33. QUALCOMM has a fifty-two week low of $101.47 and a fifty-two week high of $183.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $167.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.59.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The wireless technology company reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.43. The firm had revenue of $9.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.50 billion. QUALCOMM had a net margin of 23.03% and a return on equity of 37.09%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that QUALCOMM will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is a positive change from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.01%.

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.