International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Shares Gap Up to $181.25

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $181.25, but opened at $185.59. International Business Machines shares last traded at $183.71, with a volume of 832,001 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on IBM shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $144.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $165.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Societe Generale reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $143.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Friday, January 5th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore upgraded shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $178.08.

International Business Machines Trading Up 1.4 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The business’s 50-day moving average is $188.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $168.13. The firm has a market cap of $168.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.70.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $3.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.78 by $0.09. International Business Machines had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 39.55%. The business had revenue of $17.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.60 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $1.66 per share. This represents a $6.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 81.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in International Business Machines by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,605,859 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,510,188,000 after purchasing an additional 529,664 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in International Business Machines by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,592,094 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,337,660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084,458 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,297,545 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,119,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,170 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 98,797.1% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,029,001 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,553,876,000 after acquiring an additional 11,017,849 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,970,674 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,398,886,000 after acquiring an additional 404,948 shares during the period. 58.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About International Business Machines

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.