Sapient Capital LLC Increases Position in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Sapient Capital LLC increased its position in shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,095 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,690 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in QUALCOMM were worth $13,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of QCOM. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 1,702.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,191,342 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $542,688,000 after acquiring an additional 3,014,302 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in QUALCOMM by 17,357.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,936,310 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $499,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,919,490 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in QUALCOMM by 7.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,128,468 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $4,600,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989,725 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in QUALCOMM by 30.2% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,506,863 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $1,250,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 202.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,061,900 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $350,626,000 after buying an additional 1,380,500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Melius Research began coverage on shares of QUALCOMM in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on QUALCOMM from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price target on shares of QUALCOMM in a research report on Friday. Melius began coverage on shares of QUALCOMM in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.32.

Insider Activity at QUALCOMM

In other news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.54, for a total transaction of $484,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,778 shares in the company, valued at $7,879,598.12. This represents a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Neil Martin sold 1,304 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $202,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 94 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,570. The trade was a 93.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 44,268 shares of company stock valued at $7,276,381. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

QUALCOMM Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of QUALCOMM stock opened at $171.36 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $162.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.55. The company has a market capitalization of $189.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.79. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a 1 year low of $148.41 and a 1 year high of $230.63.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.93 by ($0.07). QUALCOMM had a net margin of 25.94% and a return on equity of 39.51%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.32%.

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.