International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer started coverage on International Business Machines in a research report on Friday, November 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $360.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on International Business Machines from $295.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Erste Group Bank upgraded International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $280.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $293.38.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

NYSE:IBM opened at $300.94 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $301.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.76. 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 firm has a market cap of $281.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.69. International Business Machines has a 1-year low of $214.50 and a 1-year high of $324.90.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its 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 analyst estimates of $16.10 billion. International Business Machines had a net margin of 12.09% and a return on equity of 37.76%. International Business Machines’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that International Business Machines will post 10.78 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On International Business Machines

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IBM. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new stake in International Business Machines during the second quarter valued at about $16,565,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 2.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,051,475 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,019,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,913,708 shares in the last quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in International Business Machines during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,710,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in International Business Machines by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 122,623 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,147,000 after purchasing an additional 3,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in International Business Machines by 34.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 5,526 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

About International Business Machines

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.