International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after Bernstein Bank raised their price target on the stock from $185.00 to $210.00. Bernstein Bank currently has a market perform rating on the stock. International Business Machines traded as high as $224.94 and last traded at $223.92, with a volume of 322788 shares. The stock had previously closed at $222.72.

IBM has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on International Business Machines from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. DZ Bank lowered International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $215.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $200.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of International Business Machines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $194.35.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in International Business Machines by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,152,714 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,833,642,000 after acquiring an additional 5,546,855 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 151.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,515,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $671,352,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,165 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 306.3% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,401,798 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $242,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,056,759 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 12,282.2% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 472,382 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $817,000 after purchasing an additional 468,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in International Business Machines by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,366,715 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,274,074,000 after buying an additional 444,698 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

International Business Machines Trading Up 1.5 %

The stock has a market cap of $207.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.59, a PEG ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.12.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $15.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.62 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.59% and a net margin of 13.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.1 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $1.67 per share. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 75.65%.

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.