Meritage Portfolio Management Grows Stock Position in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Meritage Portfolio Management grew its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,827 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in QUALCOMM were worth $7,640,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in QUALCOMM by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,717,388 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $12,296,273,000 after acquiring an additional 483,390 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in QUALCOMM by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,767,489 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $2,306,438,000 after acquiring an additional 438,660 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in QUALCOMM by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,291,482 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $1,365,092,000 after acquiring an additional 415,398 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in QUALCOMM by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,040,055 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $1,226,109,000 after acquiring an additional 90,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in QUALCOMM by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,249,675 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $1,027,269,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,173 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total transaction of $55,586.93. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,232.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other QUALCOMM news, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $103,232.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Cristiano R. Amon sold 8,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.50, for a total value of $1,291,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,875,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,260 shares of company stock valued at $5,973,728 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on QCOM. StockNews.com lowered shares of QUALCOMM from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on QUALCOMM from $173.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on QUALCOMM in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $177.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark initiated coverage on QUALCOMM in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on QUALCOMM from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, QUALCOMM presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.86.

QUALCOMM Price Performance

Shares of QCOM traded up $2.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $165.69. 3,705,469 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,479,718. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.56. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a 12-month low of $101.47 and a 12-month high of $177.59. The company has a market cap of $184.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $165.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.10.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The wireless technology company reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $9.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.50 billion. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 38.06% and a net margin of 21.39%. Research analysts expect that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 7.64 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 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. This is a positive change from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio is 46.38%.

QUALCOMM 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.