Morgan Stanley Trims International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Target Price to $179.00

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) had its target price cut by Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $179.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on IBM. Evercore raised 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 research note on Friday, January 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on International Business Machines from $179.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of International Business Machines from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $184.08.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

NYSE:IBM opened at $167.51 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. International Business Machines has a twelve month low of $120.55 and a twelve month high of $199.18. The company has a fifty day moving average of $187.19 and a 200-day moving average of $170.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.70.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.09. International Business Machines had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 40.21%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.53 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that International Business Machines will post 9.99 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Business Machines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of International Business Machines during the 4th quarter valued at $1,019,009,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in International Business Machines by 15,439.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,653,462 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $433,974,000 after buying an additional 2,636,386 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in International Business Machines by 13.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,257,789 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,280,968,000 after acquiring an additional 1,919,490 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC purchased a new position in International Business Machines in the fourth quarter valued at about $172,887,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 6,345,842 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $890,322,000 after acquiring an additional 871,247 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.