Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 13,774 Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Free Report) by 60.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,663 shares of the wireless technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,774 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in QUALCOMM were worth $5,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM in the 4th quarter valued at about $207,000. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its stake in QUALCOMM by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 3,126 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in QUALCOMM by 116.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,356 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $2,666,000 after purchasing an additional 9,343 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in QUALCOMM in the fourth quarter worth $10,394,000. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,542 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.35% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on QCOM. Loop Capital lowered their price target on QUALCOMM from $180.00 to $155.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of QUALCOMM from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $185.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded QUALCOMM to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. One investment 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, QUALCOMM currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $189.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,333 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Heather S. Ace sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.74, for a total transaction of $220,384.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 22,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,139,507.82. The trade was a 6.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 425,064 shares of company stock worth $8,381,948 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

QUALCOMM stock traded down $1.49 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $147.56. The company had a trading volume of 5,596,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,741,018. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $143.81 and a 200 day moving average of $155.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The firm has a market cap of $162.02 billion, a PE ratio of 15.76, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.29. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a one year low of $120.80 and a one year high of $230.63.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The wireless technology company reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.03. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 39.51% and a net margin of 25.94%. The company had revenue of $10.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.44 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.89 per share. This is an increase from QUALCOMM's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. QUALCOMM's payout ratio is currently 36.25%.

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.