International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Trading 1.3% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) traded up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $211.00 to $250.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. International Business Machines traded as high as $231.67 and last traded at $231.53. 1,099,386 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 4,197,195 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.62.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on IBM. Hsbc Global Res raised International Business Machines to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Bernstein Bank raised their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $209.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, International Business Machines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $198.41.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IBM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,152,714 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,833,642,000 after purchasing an additional 5,546,855 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 151.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,515,666 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $671,352,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,165 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in International Business Machines by 306.3% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,401,798 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $242,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056,759 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in International Business Machines by 12,282.2% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 472,382 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 468,567 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in International Business Machines by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,366,715 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,274,074,000 after acquiring an additional 444,698 shares during the period. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

International Business Machines Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $214.86 billion, a PE ratio of 25.69, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $206.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.34.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.27. International Business Machines had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 40.59%. The firm had revenue of $15.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.18 EPS. International Business Machines’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $1.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.65%.

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.