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

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

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upped their price target on International Business Machines from $209.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $208.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. 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 research report on Thursday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on International Business Machines from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on International Business Machines from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th.

International Business Machines Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE IBM opened at $222.78 on Wednesday. International Business Machines has a 52 week low of $157.88 and a 52 week high of $239.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $221.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $205.99. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $205.99 billion, a PE ratio of 32.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.17 and a beta of 0.73.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.08 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.52% and a net margin of 10.22%. International Business Machines’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that International Business Machines will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $1.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 97.23%.

Insider Activity at International Business Machines

In related news, SVP Nickle Jaclyn Lamoreaux sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.20, for a total transaction of $774,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 25,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,463,928. This represents a 12.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Business Machines

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in International Business Machines by 2.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of International Business Machines by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,487,827 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,467,974,000 after acquiring an additional 330,694 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,366,715 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,274,074,000 after acquiring an additional 444,698 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,195,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,148,717,000 after acquiring an additional 294,276 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in International Business Machines by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,796,206 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $829,431,000 after purchasing an additional 304,390 shares in the last quarter. 58.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.