International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Trading Up 1.2% – Still a Buy?

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)’s share price traded up 1.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $299.19 and last traded at $294.9540. 4,152,295 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 6% from the average session volume of 4,402,420 shares. The stock had previously closed at $291.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on IBM. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on International Business Machines from $256.00 to $252.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on International Business Machines from $295.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $301.85.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $275.70 billion, a PE ratio of 35.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $304.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.46.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.10 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 37.76% and a net margin of 12.09%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that International Business Machines Corporation will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a dividend of $1.68 per share. This represents a $6.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Business Machines

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,776,307 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,024,243,000 after purchasing an additional 724,832 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of International Business Machines by 0.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,536,963 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,076,406,000 after purchasing an additional 147,721 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,936,235 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,444,527,000 after acquiring an additional 400,131 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,045,156 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,809,461,000 after buying an additional 2,077,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 8,636,725 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,147,608,000 after purchasing an additional 524,633 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

International Business Machines Company Profile

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.