Analysts Set International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) Price Target at $176.85

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $176.85.

IBM has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on International Business Machines from $155.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Evercore ISI raised shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $200.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Societe Generale restated a “sell” rating and set a $143.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on International Business Machines from $179.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on International Business Machines from $144.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

Shares of IBM stock opened at $190.96 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $175.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.70. International Business Machines has a 12 month low of $120.55 and a 12 month high of $199.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.36. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $3.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.78 by $0.09. International Business Machines had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 39.55%. The company had revenue of $17.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that International Business Machines will post 10.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $1.66 dividend. This represents a $6.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

Institutional Trading of International Business Machines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IBM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of International Business Machines by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,605,859 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,510,188,000 after purchasing an additional 529,664 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in International Business Machines by 3.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 74,044,855 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,907,942,000 after acquiring an additional 2,483,682 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 1.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,441,615 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,284,833,000 after acquiring an additional 903,042 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,592,094 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,337,660,000 after acquiring an additional 3,084,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 7.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,105,170 shares during the last quarter. 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.