QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Up 9.3% Following Analyst Upgrade

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) was up 9.3% during trading on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $165.00 to $175.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. QUALCOMM traded as high as $181.25 and last traded at $179.33. Approximately 9,904,666 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 16% from the average daily volume of 8,539,530 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.11.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on QCOM. Barclays boosted their price target on QUALCOMM from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup lowered QUALCOMM from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on QUALCOMM from $152.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised QUALCOMM from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at QUALCOMM

In other QUALCOMM news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.49, for a total transaction of $520,470.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,030,317.07. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other QUALCOMM news, CTO James H. Thompson sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.39, for a total transaction of $1,275,120.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 269,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,018,245.27. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.49, for a total transaction of $520,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,030,317.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,260 shares of company stock worth $5,973,728 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QUALCOMM

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mendel Money Management grew its holdings in QUALCOMM by 184.5% during the 1st quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 1,360 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,970 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 44.1% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 15,938 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $2,698,000 after purchasing an additional 4,876 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new position in QUALCOMM during the first quarter worth about $3,104,000. Tobam boosted its holdings in QUALCOMM by 11.7% during the first quarter. Tobam now owns 6,633 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $1,123,000 after buying an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in QUALCOMM by 14.0% during the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 28,753 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $4,868,000 after purchasing an additional 3,522 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $166.69 and its 200-day moving average is $145.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $201.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.33.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The wireless technology company reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.43. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 38.06% and a net margin of 21.39%. The firm had revenue of $9.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.50 billion. On average, analysts forecast that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. This is a positive change from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.38%.

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.