Short Interest in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) Grows By 5.9%

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 27,890,000 shares, an increase of 5.9% from the July 31st total of 26,330,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,440,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on International Business Machines from $140.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on International Business Machines from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Friday, July 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $145.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, International Business Machines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.75.

International Business Machines Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of International Business Machines stock opened at $147.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $134.77 billion, a PE ratio of 68.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $132.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.28, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.06. International Business Machines has a 52-week low of $115.54 and a 52-week high of $153.21.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 19th. The technology company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.18. International Business Machines had a net margin of 3.35% and a return on equity of 38.10%. The business had revenue of $15.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that International Business Machines will post 9.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, September 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 10th will be given a dividend of $1.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 9th. This represents a $6.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 307.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IBM. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 138,904.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 17,781,486 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,379,341,000 after purchasing an additional 17,768,694 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in International Business Machines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $876,014,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 22.8% during 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 period. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 13,609.0% during the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,829,537 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $21,584,000 after acquiring an additional 2,808,897 shares during the last quarter. 56.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About International Business Machines

International Business Machines Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated solutions and services worldwide. The company operates through four business segments: Software, Consulting, Infrastructure, and Financing. The Software segment offers hybrid cloud platform and software solutions; software for business automation, AIOps and management, integration, and application servers; data and artificial intelligence solutions; and security software and services for threat, data, and identity.