Qualcomm Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 97,102 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 58% compared to the typical daily volume of 61,637 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Qualcomm news, EVP Heather S. Ace sold 3,200 shares of Qualcomm stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.00, for a total transaction of $438,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,245,841. The trade was a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Alexander H. Rogers sold 15,917 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.01, for a total transaction of $2,833,385.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 26,071 shares in the company, valued at $4,640,898.71. The trade was a 37.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 45,501 shares of company stock worth $7,784,198. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualcomm

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of QCOM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Qualcomm by 0.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,659,269 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $18,260,635,000 after acquiring an additional 290,799 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Qualcomm by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 53,667,047 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $8,547,014,000 after purchasing an additional 420,352 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Qualcomm by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,897,079 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $4,931,968,000 after purchasing an additional 3,221,924 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Qualcomm in the 2nd quarter worth $2,713,603,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Qualcomm by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,727,862 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $2,861,301,000 after buying an additional 4,290,622 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

Qualcomm Price Performance

Qualcomm stock traded down $2.51 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $137.00. 8,960,124 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,520,060. Qualcomm has a 12-month low of $120.80 and a 12-month high of $205.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $154.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $163.46. The company has a market cap of $146.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 1.25.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The wireless technology company reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.38 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $12.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.16 billion. Qualcomm had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 44.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.41 EPS. Qualcomm has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.450-2.650 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Qualcomm will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Qualcomm Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.89 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Qualcomm’s dividend payout ratio is 73.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on QCOM. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on shares of Qualcomm from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Qualcomm from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $135.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Qualcomm from $190.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Loop Capital upgraded Qualcomm from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on Qualcomm in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $132.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualcomm presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.48.

About Qualcomm

Qualcomm Incorporated is a global semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in San Diego, California. Founded in 1985, the company is known for its development of wireless technologies and for playing a central role in the evolution of digital cellular standards, including CDMA and subsequent generations of mobile standards. Qualcomm’s business combines the design and sale of semiconductor products with a patent licensing program for wireless technologies and related intellectual property.

The company’s product portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) platforms marketed under the Snapdragon brand, cellular modem and RF front-end components, connectivity solutions for Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth, and processors and platforms aimed at automotive, IoT, networking and edge-computing applications.