Brokerages Set International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) PT at $208.94

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $208.94.

Several research firms recently commented on IBM. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on International Business Machines from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on International Business Machines from $200.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Thursday, October 24th.

International Business Machines Stock Down 0.9 %

IBM stock opened at $222.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average of $221.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $205.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.17 and a beta of 0.73. International Business Machines has a 52-week low of $157.88 and a 52-week high of $239.35.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.03. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.52% and a net margin of 10.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.20 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that International Business Machines will post 10.12 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $1.67 dividend. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 97.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Nickle Jaclyn Lamoreaux sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.20, for a total transaction of $774,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 25,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,463,928. This represents a 12.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On International Business Machines

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IBM. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in International Business Machines by 4.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,094,106 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $241,885,000 after buying an additional 46,951 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of International Business Machines in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $24,761,000. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in International Business Machines during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $249,000. 1ST Source Bank grew its holdings in International Business Machines by 0.6% during the third quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 31,244 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,907,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. increased its position in shares of International Business Machines by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 10,660 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after buying an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

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.