QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Given Buy Rating at Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $200.00 price target on the wireless technology company’s stock.

QCOM has been the topic of several other reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of QUALCOMM from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on QUALCOMM from $158.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday. Susquehanna lifted their target price on QUALCOMM from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on shares of QUALCOMM from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, QUALCOMM currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $179.36.

QUALCOMM Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of QUALCOMM stock traded down $0.46 on Friday, reaching $179.64. 10,043,912 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,171,053. The company has a current ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. QUALCOMM has a fifty-two week low of $101.47 and a fifty-two week high of $183.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $167.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.59.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The wireless technology company reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $9.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.50 billion. QUALCOMM had a net margin of 23.03% and a return on equity of 37.09%. On average, analysts expect that QUALCOMM will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

QUALCOMM Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is an increase from QUALCOMM’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of QUALCOMM 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 in the company, valued at $103,232.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Neil Martin sold 371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total value of $55,586.93. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 689 shares in the company, valued at $103,232.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO James H. Thompson sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.39, for a total transaction of $1,275,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 269,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,018,245.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 44,260 shares of company stock worth $7,429,728 in the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QUALCOMM

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,258 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Gould Asset Management LLC CA bought a new position in QUALCOMM in the first quarter worth $226,000. WBI Investments LLC boosted its stake in QUALCOMM by 50.3% during the first quarter. WBI Investments LLC now owns 13,111 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $2,220,000 after buying an additional 4,387 shares in the last quarter. Team Hewins LLC increased its holdings in QUALCOMM by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Team Hewins LLC now owns 7,761 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $1,314,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Affinity Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,997 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $1,692,000 after buying an additional 400 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.