StockNews.com Upgrades QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) to “Strong-Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on QCOM. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $238.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. DZ Bank raised QUALCOMM from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on QUALCOMM from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on QUALCOMM from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on QUALCOMM from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $211.67.

QUALCOMM Stock Performance

NASDAQ QCOM opened at $172.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $182.06. The company has a market cap of $192.69 billion, a PE ratio of 22.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. QUALCOMM has a 1-year low of $104.33 and a 1-year high of $230.63.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The wireless technology company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.21. QUALCOMM had a net margin of 23.32% and a return on equity of 38.12%. The company had revenue of $9.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.23 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that QUALCOMM will post 8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

QUALCOMM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.61, for a total value of $616,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 60,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,407,124.23. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other QUALCOMM news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.61, for a total transaction of $616,830.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,343 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,407,124.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO James H. Thompson sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.50, for a total transaction of $1,284,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 229,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,912,913.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,000 shares of company stock worth $3,496,590 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QUALCOMM

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Matrix Capital Management Company LP acquired a new stake in QUALCOMM in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,171,516,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 1,778.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,219,303 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $641,221,000 after purchasing an additional 3,047,947 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 25,336,496 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $3,664,418,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909,025 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 34.8% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,890,193 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $997,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of QUALCOMM during the first quarter worth $238,770,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

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.