QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have assigned a hold recommendation, fourteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $206.57.

QCOM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $190.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on QUALCOMM from $230.00 to $210.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on QUALCOMM from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on QUALCOMM from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

QUALCOMM Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:QCOM opened at $172.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $191.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.25. QUALCOMM has a 12-month low of $139.26 and a 12-month high of $230.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The wireless technology company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.25. QUALCOMM had a return on equity of 38.81% and a net margin of 26.03%. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.90 billion. Analysts predict that QUALCOMM will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current year.

QUALCOMM Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. QUALCOMM’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insider Activity

In other QUALCOMM news, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.54, for a total value of $484,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,778 shares in the company, valued at $7,879,598.12. The trade was a 5.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Ann C. Chaplin sold 1,901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total transaction of $313,779.06. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 12,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,981,875.42. This represents a 13.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,882 shares of company stock valued at $4,314,649 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On QUALCOMM

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 2.2% in the third quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,791 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $475,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Blossom Wealth Management raised its stake in QUALCOMM by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 2,551 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Delta Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in QUALCOMM by 2.1% during the third quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,221 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its holdings in QUALCOMM by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 2,190 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in QUALCOMM by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,050 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $929,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

About QUALCOMM

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.