Bank of America Boosts International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Price Target to $220.00

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) had its price objective lifted by Bank of America from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on IBM. StockNews.com upgraded shares of International Business Machines from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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 report on Thursday, January 25th. Evercore ISI raised shares of International Business Machines from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Friday, January 5th. They set a hold rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore raised shares of International Business Machines from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $200.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, International Business Machines currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $176.85.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:IBM traded up $0.62 during trading on Thursday, reaching $191.69. 5,394,602 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,370,031. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $182.99 and a 200-day moving average of $162.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.70. International Business Machines has a 12 month low of $120.55 and a 12 month high of $199.18.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $3.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $17.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.29 billion. International Business Machines had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 39.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that International Business Machines will post 10.07 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $1.66 per share. This represents a $6.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 81.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Business Machines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IBM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,605,859 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,510,188,000 after acquiring an additional 529,664 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 3.5% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 74,044,855 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,907,942,000 after acquiring an additional 2,483,682 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,441,615 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,284,833,000 after buying an additional 903,042 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,701,893 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,228,691,000 after buying an additional 492,571 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,592,094 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,337,660,000 after buying an additional 3,084,458 shares during the period. 56.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.