International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $190.00 to $185.00. The stock had previously closed at $184.10, but opened at $168.20. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. International Business Machines shares last traded at $167.30, with a volume of 6,297,897 shares traded.

IBM has been the topic of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $165.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $179.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $180.31.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Business Machines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,642 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 279,581 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $53,389,000 after purchasing an additional 6,355 shares during the last quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of International Business Machines during the 1st quarter valued at $207,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in International Business Machines by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 244,224 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,637,000 after acquiring an additional 12,877 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in International Business Machines by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 12,554 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,397,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $154.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.70. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $188.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.98.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.53 billion. International Business Machines had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 39.55%. The company’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 81.67%.

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.