Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Stock Price Up 3.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Qualcomm shares rose 3.8% after Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded the stock to a buy rating. Trading volume more than doubled the daily average, reflecting strong investor reaction.
• The company is pushing aggressively into AI and data center markets, including a new roadmap targeting over $15 billion in data center AI revenue by fiscal 2029 and a multigeneration CPU deal with Meta. Qualcomm also raised its non-handset revenue goal to $40 billion by fiscal 2029.
• Analysts remain mixed overall, with several firms raising price targets while others downgraded the stock. MarketBeat data shows Qualcomm still carries an average Hold rating and a consensus target price of $213.03.

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) shares rose 3.8% during trading on Thursday after Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded the stock to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $219.43 and last traded at $204.90. 33,983,297 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 102% from the average daily volume of 16,785,455 shares. The stock had previously closed at $197.41.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on QCOM. Freedom Capital downgraded Qualcomm from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Qualcomm from $190.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Qualcomm from $160.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Qualcomm in a research note on Thursday. Finally, DZ Bank lowered Qualcomm from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $195.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $213.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualcomm

In other news, CAO Patricia Y. Grech sold 829 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.77, for a total value of $167,267.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Cristiano R. Amon sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $1,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 197,568 shares in the company, valued at $35,562,240. This represents a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 21,806 shares of company stock valued at $3,928,958 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.05% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Qualcomm

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualcomm this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Qualcomm raised its fiscal 2029 non-handset revenue target to $40 billion, roughly double its prior goal, signaling a much larger growth opportunity outside the core handset business. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company unveiled a data center AI roadmap targeting more than $15 billion in revenue by fiscal 2029, which strengthens the bull case for Qualcomm as an AI infrastructure player. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Qualcomm announced a multi-generation data center CPU agreement with Meta, giving the company a marquee customer and validating its push into AI servers. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Qualcomm agreed to acquire AI software firm Modular, which could improve its software stack and help it compete more effectively in edge-to-cloud AI workloads. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The expanded Hugging Face partnership adds support for open, developer-driven AI deployment across Qualcomm’s device and data center platforms, reinforcing its AI momentum. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several brokerages raised price targets after the update, including Rosenblatt, while TD Cowen reaffirmed a buy rating but with a lower target than the current trading level. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters reported Qualcomm is also in talks with ByteDance for chip-design services, adding another possible diversification avenue, though the deal is not yet confirmed. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Insider-trading data shows more selling than buying over the past six months, which may temper enthusiasm even as the stock rallies. Article Title

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualcomm

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP bought a new stake in shares of Qualcomm during the first quarter worth $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Qualcomm by 90.9% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 168 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Qualcomm in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in Qualcomm by 17,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 171 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Qualcomm in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors own 74.35% of the company's stock.

Qualcomm Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.48. The stock has a market cap of $215.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.27, a PEG ratio of 25.36 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.37.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The wireless technology company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.59 billion. Qualcomm had a return on equity of 42.11% and a net margin of 22.31%.The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.85 earnings per share. Qualcomm has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.100-2.300 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Qualcomm Incorporated will post 7.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Qualcomm Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be paid a $0.92 dividend. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This is a positive change from Qualcomm's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Qualcomm's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.00%.

Qualcomm declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, March 17th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the wireless technology company to buy up to 14.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

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