Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Stock Breaks Above 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)’s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $169.48 and traded as high as $174.00. Qualcomm shares last traded at $173.19, with a volume of 22,074,638 shares.

Key Qualcomm News

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualcomm this week:

• Positive Sentiment: SpaceX selected Qualcomm’s Dragonwing platforms for Starlink Mobile’s U.S. terrestrial 5G network under a multiyear agreement. Qualcomm called it its largest 5G initiative to date, creating an opportunity to expand beyond phones. SpaceX deal
• Positive Sentiment: Fiscal Q4 adjusted EPS of $2.17 slightly exceeded the $2.16 consensus, while revenue also topped estimates. Q4 results
• Negative Sentiment: Investors reacted to muted earnings guidance, with a memory shortage weighing on smartphone sales. Handset revenue dropped 26%, dragging down overall results; total revenue fell about 8% year over year and EPS declined from $3.00 a year earlier. Earnings outlook and handset weakness
• Negative Sentiment: Automotive revenue grew 90%, but the business remains too small to offset the handset slowdown, leaving near-term growth and profitability under pressure. Phone chip sales analysis

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on QCOM shares. Evercore set a $159.00 target price on shares of Qualcomm in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Qualcomm in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Qualcomm in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer set a $200.00 target price on shares of Qualcomm in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Qualcomm in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $205.48.

Qualcomm Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 2.02. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $169.48. The stock has a market cap of $184.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 1.70.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The wireless technology company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.01. Qualcomm had a return on equity of 38.36% and a net margin of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $10.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Qualcomm Incorporated will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qualcomm Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 3rd. Qualcomm’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Ann Chaplin sold 1,827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.75, for a total transaction of $319,268.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 25,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,503,307.50. This represents a 6.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Akash Palkhiwala sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.06, for a total transaction of $437,650.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,641,072.94. The trade was a 10.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 30,258 shares of company stock valued at $5,727,616 over the last 90 days. 0.05% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QCOM. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Qualcomm during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $17,583,115,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Qualcomm by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 52,763,263 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $9,750,123,000 after acquiring an additional 671,537 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Qualcomm by 22.7% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,202,619 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $3,178,872,000 after acquiring an additional 3,179,720 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Qualcomm by 94.1% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 10,195,741 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $1,884,071,000 after acquiring an additional 4,942,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Qualcomm during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,523,930,000. 74.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Qualcomm Company Profile

Qualcomm Incorporated is a technology company that develops and commercializes wireless communications and semiconductor technologies. Through Qualcomm Technologies, Inc, the company designs integrated circuits, system software and related platforms used in smartphones, personal computers, automobiles, industrial equipment, consumer devices and other connected products. Its Snapdragon platforms support mobile computing, connectivity, artificial intelligence and multimedia applications, while its broader portfolio includes radio-frequency systems, networking and edge-computing technologies.

Qualcomm also operates a significant technology-licensing business through its Qualcomm Technology Licensing segment.