International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Trading Up 3.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) traded up 3.7% during trading on Wednesday after UBS Group upgraded the stock from a sell rating to a neutral rating. UBS Group now has a $236.00 price target on the stock. International Business Machines traded as high as $239.55 and last traded at $237.7540. 8,421,281 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 40% from the average session volume of 6,014,821 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.32.

IBM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $304.00 target price on International Business Machines in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $312.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David N. Farr bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $304.00 per share, with a total value of $304,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,258 shares in the company, valued at $2,814,432. This represents a 12.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

More International Business Machines News

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

• Positive Sentiment: UBS upgraded IBM to “Neutral” from “Sell,” saying the recent selloff improved the stock’s risk/reward — the move helped calm sellers and supported the rebound. IBM no longer a Sell, says UBS as analysts upgrade stock
• Positive Sentiment: IBM won a new defense contract (ceiling value $112M) to modernize electronic shelf labels for the Defense Commissary Agency — a concrete government revenue opportunity and a sign of steady backlog from public-sector customers. IBM Awarded Defense Commissary Agency Contract to Modernize Electronic Shelf Label System
• Positive Sentiment: Several sell-off defenders (Wedbush, Evercore ISI and MarketBeat coverage) called the recent drop an overreaction, pointing to strong Q4 results, free cash flow and the resilience of IBM’s mainframe/infrastructure franchise — supporting the view this is a tactical buying opportunity. IBM’s Steep Drop on AI Fears May Be an Overreaction
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley trimmed its price target (from $304 to $247) and kept an “equal weight” rating — a signal of more cautious near-term expectations despite the rebound. Morgan Stanley lowers target on IBM
• Negative Sentiment: The principal negative catalyst remains Anthropic’s announcement that its Claude Code tooling could accelerate COBOL modernization — investors fear faster, cheaper automation of legacy systems could pressure parts of IBM’s mainframe and services revenue, which drove the prior 13% one-day plunge. IBM posts steepest daily drop since 2000 after Anthropic says AI can modernize COBOL

Institutional Investors Weigh In On International Business Machines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IBM. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in International Business Machines by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 21,011 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,619,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in International Business Machines by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its stake in International Business Machines by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 217,281 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,050,000 after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the last quarter. May Hill Capital LLC acquired a new stake in International Business Machines in the second quarter valued at approximately $380,000. Finally, Clark Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of International Business Machines during the second quarter worth $1,470,000. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

International Business Machines Stock Up 3.7%

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 $222.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $290.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $284.17.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $19.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.92 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that International Business Machines Corporation will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders 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 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is presently 60.27%.

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.