Essex Financial Services Inc. Purchases 1,464 Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Free Report) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,569 shares of the wireless technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,464 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in QUALCOMM were worth $1,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in QUALCOMM in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. CKW Financial Group purchased a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in QUALCOMM by 137.3% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 197 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc purchased a new position in QUALCOMM during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in QUALCOMM in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. 74.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QCOM has been the subject of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on QUALCOMM from $210.00 to $195.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, QUALCOMM currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $205.32.

QUALCOMM Price Performance

Shares of QCOM traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $172.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,685,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,722,617. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $148.90 and a fifty-two week high of $230.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $162.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.55. 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 (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The wireless technology company reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.93 by ($0.07). QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 39.51% and a net margin of 25.94%. On average, research analysts predict that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. QUALCOMM's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Neil Martin sold 1,304 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $202,120.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 94 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,570. This represents a 93.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Alexander H. Rogers sold 10,373 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.59, for a total value of $1,665,800.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,383 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,360,975.97. The trade was a 23.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,268 shares of company stock worth $7,785,781 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

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.