International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Shares Down 13.4% – Should You Sell?

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)’s stock price traded down 13.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $220.72 and last traded at $222.6430. 19,347,097 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 238% from the average session volume of 5,729,390 shares. The stock had previously closed at $257.16.

International Business Machines News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: IBM is expanding U.S. entry‑level hiring (tripling plans for 2026), signaling investment in talent to support cloud/AI initiatives and offset automation risks. IBM Expands Entry-Level Hiring
• Neutral Sentiment: Brokerage consensus still leans constructive (consensus “Moderate Buy”), suggesting many analysts view IBM’s longer-term position in enterprise software and services as intact despite today’s shock. Consensus Recommendation
• Neutral Sentiment: Market research cites IBM among leaders in expanding markets (eg. healthcare financial analytics), which is a diversification tailwind but not an immediate offset to mainframe exposure. Healthcare Financial Analytics Report
• Negative Sentiment: Anthropic’s announcement that Claude can assist COBOL modernization triggered the selloff — investors worry AI can substantially reduce consulting, migration and mainframe‑modernization revenue that IBM has historically captured; reports estimate roughly $30+ billion of market value was erased in the move. Anthropic COBOL Tool / Market Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage and market commentary frame the new Claude tooling as a credible, lower‑cost alternative to human-led legacy modernization — a direct competitive threat to parts of IBM’s services and mainframe ecosystem, amplifying downside risk. Quiver Quant Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Recent analyst notes and a recent downgrade/cut to “Hold” cited weak consulting growth and infrastructure slowdowns — factors that make IBM more vulnerable to disruption in legacy-modernization revenue. Cut to Hold on Weak Consulting Growth

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on IBM. Morgan Stanley set a $304.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $361.00 price target on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $330.07.

International Business Machines Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $208.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $294.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $284.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.33 by $0.19. International Business Machines had a net margin of 15.69% and a return on equity of 38.15%. The firm had revenue of $19.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that International Business Machines Corporation will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.68 per share. This represents a $6.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David N. Farr bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $304.00 per share, for a total transaction of $304,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,814,432. This trade represents a 12.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of International Business Machines

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in shares of International Business Machines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in International Business Machines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new position in International Business Machines during the second quarter worth $27,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in International Business Machines during the third quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management acquired a new stake in International Business Machines in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. 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.