International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Stock Price Up 2.6% – What’s Next?

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)’s stock price traded up 2.6% on Friday . The company traded as high as $307.45 and last traded at $305.82. 5,993,842 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 47% from the average session volume of 4,090,939 shares. The stock had previously closed at $297.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on IBM shares. Wall Street Zen lowered International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $256.00 to $252.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group restated a “sell” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, International Business Machines currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $303.38.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $285.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.58, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of $303.46 and a 200 day moving average of $282.44.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.45 by $0.20. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 37.76% and a net margin of 12.09%.The company had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that International Business Machines Corporation will post 10.78 earnings per share 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 issued a $1.68 dividend. This represents a $6.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.38%.

Institutional Trading of International Business Machines

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of International Business Machines during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of International Business Machines in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of International Business Machines during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. SWAN Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of International Business Machines in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in International Business Machines by 85.0% in the 2nd quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 111 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.