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

Shares of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $304.1667.

Several research firms recently weighed in on IBM. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $380.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $317.00 to $283.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd.

International Business Machines Trading Up 0.1%

IBM stock opened at $285.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $246.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.76. International Business Machines has a 52 week low of $212.34 and a 52 week high of $332.46. The company has a market capitalization of $267.93 billion, a PE ratio of 25.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.67.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.10. International Business Machines had a net margin of 15.61% and a return on equity of 37.23%. The business had revenue of $15.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. International Business Machines’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that International Business Machines will post 12.4 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $1.69 per share. This is a positive change from International Business Machines’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.68. This represents a $6.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 8th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.77%.

Key International Business Machines News

Here are the key news stories impacting International Business Machines this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush reportedly reset its IBM price target, citing stronger AI momentum and continued demand for IBM’s enterprise software and consulting offerings.
• Positive Sentiment: IBM’s new strategic partnership with Google Cloud to scale enterprise AI adoption is being seen as a meaningful growth driver, with the deal aimed at helping customers modernize systems and bring AI into production faster. IBM and Google Cloud Announce Strategic Partnership to Scale AI with Human Expertise and AI‑Powered Delivery
• Positive Sentiment: Several market commentary pieces highlighted IBM’s large quantum-computing investment as a long-term catalyst, with some analysts saying the company is strengthening its position in an emerging high-growth market. IBM Stock’s $10 Billion Quantum Catalyst Is Here
• Positive Sentiment: Citi also pointed to IBM’s growing role in quantum computing, reinforcing the view that the company’s heavy spending could secure a leadership position in a market with major future upside.
• Neutral Sentiment: IBM shares were included in broader market coverage of stocks making big moves, reflecting elevated trading interest but not adding a clearly new company-specific catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: A former IBM cybersecurity executive accused the company of covering up multiple foreign-government data breaches over the past decade, raising potential reputational and legal risks. Former cyber executive turned whistleblower accuses IBM of covering up several data breaches
• Negative Sentiment: Another report repeated allegations that IBM and AT&T concealed foreign hacks, which could weigh on investor sentiment if the claims gain traction.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IBM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of International Business Machines in the fourth quarter worth about $2,446,429,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 29.2% in 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. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,617,117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,663,847,000 after acquiring an additional 2,553,552 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 359.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,896,675 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $561,814,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,216,131 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,796,390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439,824 shares during 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.