Ethic Inc. Buys 13,177 Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Ethic Inc. lifted its position in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Free Report) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 116,657 shares of the wireless technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,177 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in QUALCOMM were worth $17,921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter valued at $2,721,882,000. Amundi grew its holdings in QUALCOMM by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 14,579,529 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $2,313,634,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,918 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of QUALCOMM in the fourth quarter worth about $527,053,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,289,513 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $2,041,535,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in QUALCOMM by 525.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,413,495 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $217,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,531 shares during the last quarter. 74.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on QUALCOMM from $179.00 to $157.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, QUALCOMM presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $192.08.

QUALCOMM Stock Up 0.0%

QCOM traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $152.13. 5,358,108 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,911,212. The stock has a market cap of $167.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.29. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a 1-year low of $120.80 and a 1-year high of $230.63. The stock's 50-day moving average is $146.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $157.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The wireless technology company reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $10.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.44 earnings per share. QUALCOMM's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.89 per share. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. This is an increase from QUALCOMM's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. QUALCOMM's payout ratio is presently 36.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Neil Martin sold 744 shares of QUALCOMM stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.83, for a total transaction of $130,073.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,596.63. This trade represents a 61.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.80, for a total value of $509,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 63,115 shares in the company, valued at $10,716,927. This represents a 4.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 16,312 shares of company stock valued at $2,457,779. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.