International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Shares Up 1.4%

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)’s share price shot up 1.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $185.71 and last traded at $183.75. 4,473,654 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 37% from the average session volume of 3,265,758 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.25.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IBM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on International Business Machines from $165.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Friday, January 5th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $155.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Evercore raised shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. One 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $178.08.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $188.63 and a 200 day moving average of $168.44. The stock has a market cap of $168.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.60, a PEG ratio of 3.55 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $3.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.78 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $17.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.07 EPS for the current 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 issued a $1.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $6.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 81.67%.

Institutional Trading of International Business Machines

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IBM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in International Business Machines by 0.6% in the fourth 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 period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in International Business Machines by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,592,094 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,337,660,000 after buying an additional 3,084,458 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in International Business Machines by 7.3% in the first 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 buying an additional 1,105,170 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in International Business Machines by 98,797.1% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,029,001 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,553,876,000 after buying 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% during the third 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 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.