Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Stock Price Up 1.8% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) rose 1.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $162.60 and last traded at $160.39. Approximately 7,109,018 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 16,447,953 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QCOM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Qualcomm from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Qualcomm from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. DZ Bank upgraded Qualcomm from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Qualcomm from $231.00 to $220.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their target price on Qualcomm from $190.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $203.63.

Qualcomm Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $176.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.43, a P/E/G ratio of 14.72 and a beta of 1.65. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.48.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The wireless technology company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.23 by ($0.02). Qualcomm had a return on equity of 38.36% and a net margin of 21.01%.The business had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.77 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Qualcomm has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 2.050-2.250 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Qualcomm Incorporated will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Qualcomm Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 3rd. Qualcomm’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualcomm

In other Qualcomm news, EVP Heather S. Ace sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.04, for a total value of $470,528.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 36,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,372,106.40. The trade was a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Patricia Y. Grech sold 829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.77, for a total value of $167,267.33. 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 a total of 11,529 shares of company stock worth $2,112,945 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualcomm

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Qualcomm by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,144,068 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $19,524,350,000 after buying an additional 647,076 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Qualcomm during the 2nd quarter worth $17,583,115,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Qualcomm by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,897,079 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $4,931,968,000 after acquiring an additional 3,221,924 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Qualcomm by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,727,862 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $2,861,301,000 after acquiring an additional 4,290,622 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Qualcomm in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,591,056,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

About Qualcomm

Qualcomm Incorporated is a global semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in San Diego, California. Founded in 1985, the company is known for its development of wireless technologies and for playing a central role in the evolution of digital cellular standards, including CDMA and subsequent generations of mobile standards. Qualcomm’s business combines the design and sale of semiconductor products with a patent licensing program for wireless technologies and related intellectual property.

The company’s product portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) platforms marketed under the Snapdragon brand, cellular modem and RF front-end components, connectivity solutions for Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth, and processors and platforms aimed at automotive, IoT, networking and edge-computing applications.