Morgan Stanley Lowers International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Price Target to $247.00

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) had its price objective lowered by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $304.00 to $247.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 2.05% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $312.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore boosted their target price on International Business Machines from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $361.00 price target on International Business Machines in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Argus set a $360.00 price objective on International Business Machines in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on International Business Machines from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $320.87.

International Business Machines Price Performance

International Business Machines stock opened at $242.05 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $283.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $227.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.69. International Business Machines has a one year low of $214.50 and a one year high of $324.90.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 38.15% and a net margin of 15.69%.The firm had revenue of $19.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.92 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that International Business Machines will post 10.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David N. Farr acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $304.00 per share, for a total transaction of $304,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,258 shares in the company, valued at $2,814,432. This trade represents a 12.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael Miebach bought 434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $233.33 per share, for a total transaction of $101,265.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,265.22. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 1,484 shares of company stock worth $417,157. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of International Business Machines

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in International Business Machines by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,216,131 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,796,390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,824 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,996,293 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,290,452,000 after buying an additional 518,321 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,605,083 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,679,105,000 after acquiring an additional 336,069 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 22,021,912 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,523,720,000 after acquiring an additional 4,976,756 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in International Business Machines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,446,429,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Key International Business Machines News

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

• Positive Sentiment: UBS upgraded IBM from “Sell” to “Neutral,” helping spark buyer interest and supporting a short-term rebound. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: IBM won a Department of War contract (ceiling ~$112M) to modernize electronic shelf labels, a concrete services win that supports revenue visibility in its consulting/systems business. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company directors made small open-market purchases (including Michael Miebach and Michelle Howard), a signal of insider confidence that can bolster investor sentiment after volatility. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst notes and deep-dive pieces argue the recent selloff was overdone given strong Q4 results, record free cash flow and strategic AI/cloud assets — supporting a recovery narrative. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley trimmed its price target to $247 and set an “equal weight” rating, which moderates expectations and keeps upside capped near current levels. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: IBM published its 2026 X‑Force Threat Intelligence Index (ransomware surge and AI-accelerated attacks), which underlines both growing cybersecurity demand (opportunity) and rising threat landscape (risk). Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: The principal near-term downside remains AI-startup disruption fears after Anthropic’s Claude Code claim (automation of COBOL modernization) triggered a sharp selloff; the market is still weighing how quickly enterprise modernization demand could change. Read More.

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.