International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Stock Price Up 0.5%

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) shares traded up 0.5% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $182.80 and last traded at $182.37. 581,449 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 4,746,790 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on International Business Machines in a report on Friday, January 5th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on International Business Machines from $179.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com downgraded International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on International Business Machines from $155.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, International Business Machines has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $178.67.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $165.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $188.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.63. 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 released its 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. The firm had revenue of $17.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.29 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 39.55% and a net margin of 12.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.07 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $1.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $6.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

Institutional Trading of International Business Machines

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in International Business Machines by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,605,859 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,510,188,000 after buying an additional 529,664 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,592,094 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,337,660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084,458 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of International Business Machines by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,297,545 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,119,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,170 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of International Business Machines by 98,797.1% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,029,001 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,553,876,000 after acquiring an additional 11,017,849 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of International Business Machines by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,970,674 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,398,886,000 after acquiring an additional 404,948 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

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.