Verus Financial Partners Inc. Invests $1.20 Million in QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Verus Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,649 shares of the wireless technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,201,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 1,702.6% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,191,342 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $542,688,000 after purchasing an additional 3,014,302 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in QUALCOMM by 17,357.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,936,310 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $499,320,000 after buying an additional 2,919,490 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,128,468 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $4,600,625,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989,725 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,506,863 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $1,250,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in QUALCOMM by 202.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,061,900 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $350,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,380,500 shares during the last quarter. 74.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

NASDAQ:QCOM traded up $2.81 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $173.05. 3,962,572 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,302,582. The firm has a market capitalization of $192.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $160.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $166.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.79. QUALCOMM Incorporated has a twelve month low of $141.21 and a twelve month high of $230.63.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The wireless technology company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.90 billion. QUALCOMM had a net margin of 26.03% and a return on equity of 38.81%. On average, analysts expect that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 9.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. QUALCOMM's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Neil Martin sold 1,304 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $202,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 94 shares in the company, valued at $14,570. This trade represents a 93.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Ann C. Chaplin sold 2,587 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.12, for a total value of $409,056.44. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 19,739 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,121,130.68. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 24,981 shares of company stock worth $4,000,870. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on QCOM. Mizuho dropped their price target on QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp lowered shares of QUALCOMM from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $207.00 to $204.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, QUALCOMM presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.57.

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.