While Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) stock continues to rise steadily, the company insiders have been selling shares near record high prices. Qualcomm chairman Paul Jacobs revealed in his latest SEC Form 4 filing that he offloaded 70,000 shares of the company in an open market transaction on June 2. Jacobs sold the stock at an average price of $80.55, converting paper money into $5.63 million cash. Now he directly owns 30,041 shares valued at about $2.41 million.
Three Qualcomm executives sold shares on June 2
Last month, Paul Jacobs unloaded 10,280 shares on May 20 at an average price of $80.03. Previously, he had sold 70,000 shares of Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) on May 1 and another 70,000 on May 5. Meanwhile, Executive VP Matthew Grob said in his regulatory filing that he sold 2,000 Qualcomm shares in an open market transaction on June 2. Grob sold the stock an 80.66 apiece for a value of $161,320. He now directly owns 25,846 shares of the company.
Another senior Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) executive, Margaret Johnson also unloaded shares on the same date. She sold 2,400 shares of the company at $80.66 apiece on June 2. Margaret Johnson still directly holds 24,320 shares of the company. Before these executives, EVP Christiano Amon had unloaded 20,000 shares on May 30. Amon’s SEC filing shows that he sold those shares at an average price of $80.13 for a total value of $1.6 million. Now he directly owns 478 shares valued at $38,302.
Short interest rises slightly in Qualcomm
Short interest in Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) increased slightly in the first two weeks of May. According to Nasdaq, the number of Qualcomm shares sold short went up from 18.29 million on April 30 to 18.73 million on May 15. However, that’s still much lower than the March 31, 2014 high of 25.28 million. Based on the average daily trading volume of 7.46 million shares, it will take short sellers 2.5 days to close their positions entirely.
On Monday, Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM) announced that it will exit the cellular baseband chip business. Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski said that Broadcom’s baseband exit is a big positive for Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM). The research firm has a Conviction Buy rating on the stock with $90 price target.
Qualcomm, Inc. shares were down 0.20% to $80.23 in pre-market trading Wednesday.
