International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Trading Down 0.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) traded down 0.1% during mid-day trading on Friday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $217.00 to $208.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. International Business Machines traded as low as $215.73 and last traded at $218.21. 1,760,540 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 4,213,449 shares. The stock had previously closed at $218.39.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on IBM. UBS Group increased their price target on International Business Machines from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on International Business Machines from $211.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $200.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Bernstein Bank raised their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $208.12.

Institutional Trading of International Business Machines

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IBM. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of International Business Machines during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. ESL Trust Services LLC bought a new stake in International Business Machines in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group purchased a new position in International Business Machines in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 37.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 222 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc increased its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 54.3% during the 2nd quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc now owns 284 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

International Business Machines Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $215.16 and its 200 day moving average is $190.25. The company has a market cap of $200.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.71, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.70.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.08 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.59% and a net margin of 13.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.1 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $1.67 dividend. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.65%.

About International Business Machines

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.