International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

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

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Erste Group Bank lowered International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded International Business Machines from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on International Business Machines from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on International Business Machines in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $350.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, International Business Machines currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.17.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

NYSE IBM opened at $271.77 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $250.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $270.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $255.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.67. International Business Machines has a fifty-two week low of $212.34 and a fifty-two week high of $332.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.80.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.10. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 37.23% and a net margin of 15.61%.The firm had revenue of $15.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. International Business Machines’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that International Business Machines will post 12.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On International Business Machines

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in International Business Machines by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,216,131 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,796,390,000 after buying an additional 1,439,824 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in International Business Machines by 1.0% in 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,605,083 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,679,105,000 after purchasing an additional 336,069 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 22,021,912 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,523,720,000 after purchasing an additional 4,976,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,063,653 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,893,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,602 shares during the last quarter. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.