Evercore ISI Initiates Coverage on QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) in a report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an in-line rating and a $177.00 price target on the wireless technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on QCOM. TD Cowen upped their price objective on QUALCOMM from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Susquehanna upped their price objective on QUALCOMM from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho increased their target price on QUALCOMM from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on QUALCOMM from $173.00 to $170.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on QUALCOMM from $180.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, QUALCOMM has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $156.90.

QUALCOMM Stock Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:QCOM opened at $161.44 on Tuesday. 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’s fifty day moving average is $164.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.33. QUALCOMM has a 52 week low of $101.47 and a 52 week high of $177.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.41.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The wireless technology company reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.43. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 38.06% and a net margin of 21.39%. The company had revenue of $9.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.50 billion. Research analysts anticipate that QUALCOMM will post 7.69 EPS for the current year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is an increase from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio is 46.38%.

Insider Transactions at QUALCOMM

In other news, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total transaction of $55,586.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 689 shares in the company, valued at $103,232.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total transaction 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 36,260 shares of company stock worth $5,973,728. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On QUALCOMM

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QCOM. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in QUALCOMM by 117,461.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,587,893 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $2,703,193,000 after purchasing an additional 24,566,978 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,507,978,000. Cowa LLC acquired a new stake in shares of QUALCOMM during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $94,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of QUALCOMM by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 21,602,874 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $2,375,020,000 after acquiring an additional 3,929,586 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 12,998.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,006,156 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $434,780,000 after purchasing an additional 2,983,206 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.