International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $178.67.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IBM. Evercore upgraded shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price 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 price objective on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $155.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Friday, January 5th. They set a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company.

International Business Machines Price Performance

IBM opened at $181.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $166.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $188.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.63. International Business Machines has a twelve month low of $120.55 and a twelve month high of $199.18.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $3.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.78 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $17.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.29 billion. International Business Machines had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 39.55%. The company’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that International Business Machines will post 10.07 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $1.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $6.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Business Machines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,605,859 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,510,188,000 after acquiring an additional 529,664 shares during 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,297,545 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,119,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,170 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 98,797.1% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,029,001 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,553,876,000 after acquiring an additional 11,017,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,970,674 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $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.