International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Trading Up 1.4% – Time to Buy?

Shares of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) traded up 1.4% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $292.32 and last traded at $291.66. 1,853,289 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 4,223,087 shares. The stock had previously closed at $287.65.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Saturday, May 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. KGI Securities set a $242.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $257.50.

International Business Machines Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $271.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.20, a PEG ratio of 6.13 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $268.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $249.86.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.18. International Business Machines had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 37.43%. The business had revenue of $14.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that International Business Machines Corporation will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were given a dividend of $1.68 per share. This is a boost from International Business Machines’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. This represents a $6.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 115.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IBM. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 413.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,984,609 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,634,577,000 after purchasing an additional 9,650,534 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of International Business Machines in the fourth quarter worth about $1,236,176,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 29,564.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,399,790 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,940,520,000 after purchasing an additional 4,384,958 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of International Business Machines in the first quarter worth about $1,040,057,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of International Business Machines in the first quarter worth about $960,386,000. 58.96% 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 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.