Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on the stock from $190.00 to $265.00. The stock had previously closed at $197.41, but opened at $219.43. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a buy rating on the stock. Qualcomm shares last traded at $206.3420, with a volume of 8,103,083 shares traded.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Freedom Capital cut shares of Qualcomm from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Qualcomm in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qualcomm in a report on Friday, March 27th. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of Qualcomm to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Qualcomm from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualcomm currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $206.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualcomm

In other Qualcomm news, CAO Patricia Y. Grech sold 829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.77, for a total value of $167,267.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Heather S. Ace sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.82, for a total transaction of $569,024.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,065,677.70. The trade was a 7.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,806 shares of company stock valued at $3,928,958. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

More Qualcomm News

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualcomm this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Qualcomm raised its long-term non-handset revenue target sharply and laid out a data center AI roadmap, signaling a bigger and faster diversification push beyond mobile chips. Qualcomm Accelerates Diversification with Comprehensive Strategy for Data Center and Sees Multiple Inflection Points Over the Next 3 to 5 Years
• Positive Sentiment: The company announced a strategic multi-generation CPU agreement with Meta, giving investors a high-profile validation of its data center ambitions. Qualcomm and Meta Announce Strategic Multi-Generation Agreement on Data Center CPUs
• Positive Sentiment: Qualcomm also unveiled a broader “Dragonfly” data center portfolio and new AI infrastructure products, reinforcing expectations that it can compete in the fast-growing agentic AI market. Qualcomm Unveils Comprehensive Data Center Roadmap for the Agentic AI Era with New Qualcomm Dragonfly Portfolio
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Qualcomm is in talks to provide chip-design services to ByteDance added to the view that it can expand into new custom silicon and design services markets. Qualcomm in talks to provide custom chip-design services to ByteDance, sources say
• Positive Sentiment: Reuters reported that Qualcomm’s stronger forecasts helped fuel a broad AI-chip rally, with investors encouraged by signs of renewed demand and improved growth visibility. Micron and Qualcomm forecasts ignite $400 billion AI chip stock rally

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualcomm

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QCOM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Qualcomm by 116.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,356 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $2,666,000 after buying an additional 9,343 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Qualcomm by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,542 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualcomm by 44.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $530,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualcomm by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 5,778 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $920,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Qualcomm by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,800 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $1,083,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

Qualcomm Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $198.52 and its 200-day moving average is $167.48. The firm has a market cap of $216.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 25.36 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The wireless technology company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.09. Qualcomm had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 42.11%. The business had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Qualcomm has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.100-2.300 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Qualcomm Incorporated will post 7.97 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 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is an increase from Qualcomm’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Qualcomm’s payout ratio is presently 40.00%.

Qualcomm declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, March 17th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the wireless technology company to buy up to 14.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Qualcomm Company Profile

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.