QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) Given “Buy” Rating at Benchmark

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Benchmark in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $200.00 target price on the wireless technology company’s stock. Benchmark’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 11.33% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on QCOM. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of QUALCOMM in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp raised their price target on QUALCOMM from $180.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on QUALCOMM from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on QUALCOMM from $158.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of QUALCOMM from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.36.

QUALCOMM Price Performance

NASDAQ:QCOM opened at $179.64 on Friday. QUALCOMM has a 52 week low of $101.47 and a 52 week high of $183.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $167.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $146.59. The company has a market capitalization of $200.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO James H. Thompson sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.39, for a total value of $1,275,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 269,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,018,245.27. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CTO James H. Thompson sold 8,000 shares of QUALCOMM 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 sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 269,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,018,245.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Akash J. Palkhiwala sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.49, for a total transaction of $520,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,030,317.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 44,260 shares of company stock worth $7,429,728. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in QUALCOMM during the 4th quarter worth $2,507,978,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of QUALCOMM by 12,998.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,006,156 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $434,780,000 after buying an additional 2,983,206 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of QUALCOMM by 1,543.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,831,577 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $409,531,000 after buying an additional 2,659,323 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in QUALCOMM by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 25,336,496 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $3,664,418,000 after acquiring an additional 1,909,025 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in QUALCOMM by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,283,274 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $586,760,000 after acquiring an additional 1,842,868 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.