International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $208.94.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on IBM. StockNews.com downgraded shares of International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on International Business Machines from $208.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on International Business Machines from $205.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on International Business Machines from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Bernstein Bank boosted their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Nickle Jaclyn Lamoreaux sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.20, for a total value of $774,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 25,390 shares in the company, valued at $5,463,928. The trade was a 12.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 20,324.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,715,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $600,373,000 after acquiring an additional 2,702,340 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in International Business Machines in the 3rd quarter worth about $573,306,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in International Business Machines by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 55,671,883 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,307,940,000 after buying an additional 1,200,803 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in International Business Machines by 306.3% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,401,798 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $242,441,000 after buying an additional 1,056,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 587.1% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 628,213 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $134,262,000 after buying an additional 536,785 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

International Business Machines Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:IBM opened at $219.83 on Wednesday. International Business Machines has a 52 week low of $157.88 and a 52 week high of $239.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16. The company has a market cap of $203.27 billion, a PE ratio of 32.00, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s 50 day moving average is $220.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $206.71.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.08 billion. International Business Machines had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 40.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that International Business Machines will post 10.12 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $1.67 dividend. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 97.23%.

International Business Machines Company Profile

International Business Machines Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated solutions and services worldwide. The company operates through Software, Consulting, Infrastructure, and Financing segments. The Software segment offers a hybrid cloud and AI platforms that allows clients to realize their digital and AI transformations across the applications, data, and environments in which they operate.