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

Shares of QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) shot 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 changed 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.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on QCOM. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on QUALCOMM from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on QUALCOMM in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $177.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price objective on QUALCOMM from $180.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. HSBC lifted their price objective on QUALCOMM from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on QUALCOMM from $158.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, QUALCOMM currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.36.

Insider Activity at QUALCOMM

In related news, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total transaction of $55,586.93. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,232.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total value of $55,586.93. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $103,232.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $1,275,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 269,893 shares in the company, valued at $43,018,245.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 44,260 shares of company stock valued at $7,429,728 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of QUALCOMM

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in QUALCOMM during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in QUALCOMM by 1.4% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 550,579 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $61,147,000 after purchasing an additional 7,457 shares in the last quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of QUALCOMM in the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 9.0% in the third quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 4,075 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $453,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 1.4% in the third quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 275,850 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $30,636,000 after acquiring an additional 3,692 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $200.48 billion, a PE ratio of 26.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $167.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $146.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The wireless technology company reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.43. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 38.24% and a net margin of 23.03%. The firm had revenue of $9.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.50 billion. Research analysts forecast that QUALCOMM Incorporated will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is a boost from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.