Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Shares Up 3.2% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) traded up 3.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $259.92 and last traded at $251.02. 28,361,153 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 78% from the average session volume of 15,916,709 shares. The stock had previously closed at $243.29.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Qualcomm in a research report on Friday, May 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Qualcomm from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group cut shares of Qualcomm from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Qualcomm from a “positive” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Qualcomm from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qualcomm currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $181.79.

Qualcomm Trading Up 3.2%

The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $264.58 billion, a PE ratio of 27.28, a PEG ratio of 28.91 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $163.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.62.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The wireless technology company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.09. Qualcomm had a return on equity of 42.11% and a net margin of 22.31%.The company had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Qualcomm has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.100-2.300 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Qualcomm Incorporated will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Qualcomm Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This is an increase from Qualcomm’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Qualcomm’s payout ratio is presently 38.70%.

Qualcomm announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, March 17th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the wireless technology company to buy up to 14.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualcomm

In related news, CAO Patricia Y. Grech sold 829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.77, for a total transaction of $167,267.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.90, for a total transaction of $529,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 28,184 shares in the company, valued at $5,972,189.60. The trade was a 8.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,306 shares of company stock worth $3,435,583. Insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualcomm

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Qualcomm by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,144,068 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $19,524,350,000 after acquiring an additional 647,076 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $4,931,968,000 after acquiring an additional 3,221,924 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake 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 worth $2,861,301,000 after acquiring an additional 4,290,622 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Qualcomm in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,591,056,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Qualcomm by 9.9% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 12,671,635 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $2,136,486,000 after buying an additional 1,138,541 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.35% of the company’s stock.

Qualcomm Company Profile

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.