International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded 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 report on Friday, January 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on International Business Machines from $179.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on International Business Machines in a report on Friday, January 5th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on International Business Machines from $165.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on International Business Machines from $155.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $176.85.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

NYSE IBM opened at $182.27 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $188.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.96. International Business Machines has a fifty-two week low of $120.55 and a fifty-two week high of $199.18.

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

Institutional Trading of International Business Machines

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in International Business Machines by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,605,859 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,510,188,000 after purchasing an additional 529,664 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 22.8% in the fourth 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. raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,119,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,170 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 98,797.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 11,017,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 4.2% in the third 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. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.