Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Climb 1.8% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) rose 1.8% during trading on Wednesday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a strong sell rating to a hold rating. The company traded as high as $182.17 and last traded at $176.57. 14,017,174 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 8% from the average session volume of 15,179,884 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.53.

QCOM has been the topic of several other reports. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Qualcomm in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Freedom Broker cut shares of Qualcomm from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Monday. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualcomm in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Qualcomm from $265.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Qualcomm from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qualcomm has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $197.13.

Insider Activity at Qualcomm

In other Qualcomm news, EVP Ann C. Chaplin sold 1,827 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.75, for a total transaction of $319,268.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,503,307.50. The trade was a 6.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Patricia Y. Grech sold 625 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.85, for a total value of $101,781.25. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 208 shares in the company, valued at $33,872.80. The trade was a 75.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 32,520 shares of company stock valued at $6,101,411 over the last quarter. 0.05% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Latest Qualcomm News

Investors following QCOM have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: Automotive and data-center businesses offer diversification beyond handsets. CEO Cristiano Amon reiterated targets of $5 billion in data-center sales in fiscal 2027 and $15 billion in fiscal 2029, expressing confidence in the plan. Qualcomm CEO on data-center goal
• Neutral Sentiment: The SpaceX 5G partnership could create opportunities for Qualcomm’s network equipment, though the effort to compete with established mobile carriers faces a difficult path. SpaceX partnership and carrier competition
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts point to falling earnings estimates and margin pressure, while customer concentration and substantial investment make Qualcomm’s ambitious data-center ramp execution-dependent. These concerns cloud the growth story and valuation case. Data-center execution risks

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Qualcomm during the 2nd quarter worth $17,583,115,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Qualcomm in the 2nd quarter worth $1,523,930,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Qualcomm in the 2nd quarter worth $1,178,349,000. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Qualcomm by 94.1% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 10,195,741 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $1,884,071,000 after purchasing an additional 4,942,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Qualcomm by 22.7% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,202,619 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $3,178,872,000 after purchasing an additional 3,179,720 shares during the period. 74.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Qualcomm Trading Down 2.6%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $178.65 and a 200 day moving average of $169.90. The company has a market capitalization of $184.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.58, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.86.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The wireless technology company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.12 billion. Qualcomm had a return on equity of 30.62% and a net margin of 31.60%. Qualcomm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Qualcomm Incorporated will post 6.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qualcomm Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Qualcomm’s dividend payout ratio is 28.98%.

Qualcomm Company Profile

Qualcomm Incorporated is a technology company that develops wireless communications technologies and semiconductor products. Its chips and related systems are used in smartphones and other connected devices, with products spanning mobile processors, modem-radio frequency systems, and connectivity solutions. The Snapdragon brand includes platforms for mobile devices as well as computing, automotive, and extended-reality applications. Qualcomm also develops technology for automotive systems and the Internet of Things, including connectivity and processing solutions for vehicles, industrial equipment, and consumer devices.