QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Trading Up 9.3% on Analyst Upgrade

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) shares traded up 9.3% on Thursday after Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on the stock from $180.00 to $206.00. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. QUALCOMM traded as high as $181.25 and last traded at $179.33. 9,904,666 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 16% from the average session volume of 8,539,530 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.11.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $155.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $158.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, QUALCOMM currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.49, for a total value of $520,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,343 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,030,317.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other QUALCOMM news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.49, for a total value of $520,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,343 shares in the company, valued at $12,030,317.07. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total value of $55,586.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,232.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 44,260 shares of company stock worth $7,429,728. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QUALCOMM

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peoples Bank OH purchased a new stake in QUALCOMM in the fourth quarter worth $219,000. HF Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM in the third quarter worth $629,000. Bank Hapoalim BM grew its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank Hapoalim BM now owns 35,423 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $5,123,000 after acquiring an additional 9,192 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 120.2% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 20,677 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $2,991,000 after acquiring an additional 11,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1834 Investment Advisors Co. grew its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 45,570 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $6,591,000 after acquiring an additional 2,818 shares during the last quarter. 74.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $200.48 billion, a PE ratio of 26.03, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $167.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 1.88.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The wireless technology company reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.43. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 38.24% and a net margin of 23.03%. The business had revenue of $9.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.50 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. This is a positive change from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.28%.

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.