UPDATE: BMO Capital Markets Reiterates Outperform Rating, Raises PT on Qualcomm Following Huge Stock Purchase

In a report published Thursday, BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long reiterated an Outperform rating on Qualcomm QCOM, and raised the price target from $75.00 to $77.00. In the report, BMO Capital Markets noted, “We had been expecting the more aggressive capital return displayed last quarter to continue, but not nearly at this pace. QCOM announced that it has purchased $3.2 billion worth of stock to date in the September quarter, dwarfing the $1 billion bought in June. We estimate 48 million shares repurchased so far this quarter. Qualcomm also announced a new $5.0 billion stock repurchase program. While we are still concerned about near-term guidance when the September quarter is reported, the buyback is very accretive, and we view this as a sign that the more aggressive capital return stance is sustainable. We estimate that QCOM can buy back $1 billion worth of stock per quarter, raise the dividend, and still have more than $5 billion in domestic cash at the end of fiscal 2014.” Qualcomm closed on Wednesday at $68.09.