International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $190.00 to $185.00. The stock had previously closed at $184.10, but opened at $168.20. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. International Business Machines shares last traded at $167.30, with a volume of 6,297,897 shares traded.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on IBM. Evercore raised shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Wedbush raised their price target on International Business Machines from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on International Business Machines from $179.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com cut International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Two 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 data from MarketBeat.com, International Business Machines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $180.31.

Institutional Trading of International Business Machines

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in International Business Machines by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 477,193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $78,045,000 after purchasing an additional 80,474 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 372,307 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $52,235,000 after acquiring an additional 57,170 shares during the period. Herold Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in International Business Machines by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. now owns 21,880 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,070,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in International Business Machines by 40.5% during the fourth quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 378 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in International Business Machines during the third quarter valued at approximately $661,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

International Business Machines Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $188.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $169.97. The stock has a market cap of $155.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 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 $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. International Business Machines’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $1.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $6.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

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.