International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Trading 1.5% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)’s share price traded up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Friday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $260.00 to $300.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock. International Business Machines traded as high as $287.16 and last traded at $286.37. 971,154 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 4,440,723 shares. The stock had previously closed at $282.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on IBM. Bank of America boosted their target price on International Business Machines from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wedbush upped their price target on International Business Machines from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on International Business Machines from $285.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on International Business Machines from $237.00 to $233.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Saturday, May 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.19.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

International Business Machines Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market cap of $265.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $276.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.02.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $14.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.41 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 37.43% and a net margin of 8.71%. The company’s revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that International Business Machines Corporation will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a $1.68 dividend. This represents a $6.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. This is a positive change from International Business Machines’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.66%.

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.