International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Stock Price Down 3% – Should You Sell?

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)’s stock price dropped 3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $301.87 and last traded at $302.8430. Approximately 4,481,150 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 18% from the average daily volume of 3,783,399 shares. The stock had previously closed at $312.18.

Key International Business Machines News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target to $335 and kept a Buy rating, signaling stronger analyst conviction on IBM’s outlook and providing upside support for the stock. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Confluent cleared a key U.S. antitrust hurdle related to its deal with IBM, removing a material regulatory uncertainty and making the acquisition more likely to close — a direct strategic positive for IBM if the deal completes. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: IBM expanded its edge AI offering with Datavault AI using watsonx and zero-trust micro data centers, which supports revenue and margin upside if enterprise adoption of secure, low-latency AI at the edge accelerates. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer reiterated that IBM looks inexpensive, a high-visibility endorsement that can attract bargain-hunting retail flows. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: IBM vice chairman Gary Cohn said he’s bullish on the economy, a macro view that could indirectly help IBM via stronger IT spending, but it’s not company-specific news. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market/sector stories (AI, defense, quantum) spotlight other leaders like NVDA and IONQ, which can shift headline attention away from IBM but don’t directly change IBM’s fundamentals. Read More. · Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-term market note: IBM recently outperformed on a day-to-day basis, a trading observation that can encourage short-term profit-taking. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst commentary shows diverging views on IBM’s strategic trajectory, highlighting investor uncertainty about the pace and payoff of IBM’s AI, cloud and M&A strategy — a factor that can weigh on the stock if confidence falters. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $300.00 to $360.00 in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $295.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of International Business Machines from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $303.38.

International Business Machines Stock Down 3.0%

The firm has a market cap of $283.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.23, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $303.70 and a 200 day moving average of $282.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97.

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

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 80.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Business Machines

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in International Business Machines by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 21,011 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,619,000 after buying an additional 2,323 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in International Business Machines by 25.8% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 164,539 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,210,000 after acquiring an additional 33,725 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew 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 period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 1.2% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 29,063 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,567,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cultivar Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 34.3% during the second quarter. Cultivar Capital Inc. now owns 6,100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.