Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 50,802 Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated $QCOM

Key Points

• Aptus Capital Advisors LLC significantly increased its stake in QUALCOMM, acquiring an additional 50,802 shares, bringing its total holdings to 79,221 shares valued at $12.17 million.
• Several institutional investors also boosted their investments in QUALCOMM, with 74.35% of the stock owned by institutional investors overall, reflecting increased confidence in the company.
• QUALCOMM recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.89 per share, contributing to an annualized dividend yield of 2.2%.

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Free Report) by 178.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 79,221 shares of the wireless technology company's stock after buying an additional 50,802 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in QUALCOMM were worth $12,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Aviso Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 4.4% during the first quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 8,582 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $1,318,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 20.6% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,985 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $1,226,000 after buying an additional 1,365 shares during the last quarter. FCG Investment Co raised its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 45.2% during the first quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 11,659 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $1,791,000 after buying an additional 3,629 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 17.4% during the first quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 43,408 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $6,668,000 after buying an additional 6,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Mile Advisory raised its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 9.5% during the first quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 3,066 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $471,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. 74.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

QCOM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $240.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $180.00 to $155.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup restated a "hold" rating on shares of QUALCOMM in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $181.10.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

Shares of QCOM opened at $158.90 on Tuesday. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a 12 month low of $120.80 and a 12 month high of $182.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 3.19, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The wireless technology company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $0.06. QUALCOMM had a net margin of 26.77% and a return on equity of 40.35%. The business had revenue of $10.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $0.89 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. QUALCOMM's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at QUALCOMM

In other QUALCOMM news, major shareholder Inc/De Qualcomm sold 412,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total value of $6,600,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Heather S. Ace sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.40, for a total transaction of $234,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 21,193 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,102,655.20. This represents a 7.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 424,099 shares of company stock worth $8,352,355 over the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding QCOM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.