International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on IBM. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a buy rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Evercore ISI upgraded International Business Machines from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and lifted their target price for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Societe Generale reiterated a sell rating and issued a $143.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Friday, January 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on International Business Machines from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on International Business Machines in a research report on Friday, January 5th. They issued a hold rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, International Business Machines currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $177.23.

International Business Machines Stock Up 0.2 %

IBM stock opened at $182.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $167.02 billion, a PE ratio of 22.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.88. International Business Machines has a 52 week low of $120.55 and a 52 week high of $199.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $3.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.78 by $0.09. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 39.55% and a net margin of 12.13%. The business had revenue of $17.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.60 earnings per share. International Business Machines’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that International Business Machines will post 10.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a $1.66 dividend. This represents a $6.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

Institutional Trading of International Business Machines

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IBM. Norges Bank bought a new stake in International Business Machines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,019,009,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in International Business Machines by 15,439.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,653,462 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $433,974,000 after buying an additional 2,636,386 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in International Business Machines by 13.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,257,789 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,280,968,000 after buying an additional 1,919,490 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC acquired a new position in International Business Machines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $172,887,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in International Business Machines by 15.9% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 6,345,842 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $890,322,000 after buying an additional 871,247 shares during the period. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About International Business Machines

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.