International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $330.0667.

IBM has been the topic of several research reports. Dbs Bank upgraded International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th.

International Business Machines Price Performance

International Business Machines stock opened at $257.20 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $294.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $284.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.92. International Business Machines has a 1 year low of $214.50 and a 1 year high of $324.90. The stock has a market cap of $240.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.69.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.33 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $19.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 38.15% and a net margin of 15.69%.International Business Machines’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.92 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that International Business Machines will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.68 per share. This represents a $6.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is 60.27%.

Insider Transactions at International Business Machines

In other news, Director David N. Farr bought 1,000 shares of International Business Machines stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $304.00 per share, for a total transaction of $304,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 9,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,814,432. This trade represents a 12.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,216,131 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,796,390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,824 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in International Business Machines by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,996,293 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,290,452,000 after buying an additional 518,321 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in International Business Machines by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,605,083 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,679,105,000 after acquiring an additional 336,069 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 22,021,912 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,523,720,000 after acquiring an additional 4,976,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of International Business Machines during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,446,429,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

About International Business Machines

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a global technology and consulting company headquartered in Armonk, New York. Founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) and renamed IBM in 1924, the company has evolved from early electromechanical machines to a diversified technology provider serving enterprises and governments worldwide. IBM is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol IBM.

IBM’s principal businesses encompass cloud computing and software, infrastructure and systems, consulting and technology services, and research and development.