International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Trading 2.6% Higher – Still a Buy?

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)’s stock price rose 2.6% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $312.33 and last traded at $312.0810. Approximately 3,797,232 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 3% from the average daily volume of 3,669,499 shares. The stock had previously closed at $304.22.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on IBM. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Jefferies Financial Group raised International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $300.00 to $360.00 in a research report on Monday, January 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on International Business Machines from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Friday, November 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $360.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.85.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $291.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $303.70 and a 200-day moving average of $282.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.93.

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

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were given a dividend of $1.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $6.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 80.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Business Machines

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IBM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in International Business Machines by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 21,011 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,619,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in International Business Machines by 25.8% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 164,539 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,210,000 after buying an additional 33,725 shares during the last quarter. Private Client Services LLC bought a new stake in International Business Machines during the second quarter worth $286,000. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its stake in International Business Machines by 1.0% in the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 4,357 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,284,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TruWealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 104,224 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,723,000 after acquiring an additional 3,214 shares during the period. 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.