International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Guggenheim

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Guggenheim in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, July 14th.

The analysts wrote, “We believe IBM’s organic revenue growth needs to stabilize or gross margins need to recover, but do not expect either near-term. Our Q2 estimates (unchanged) are for IBM’s revenue to have declined another 3%Y/Y to $19.6B and EPS -7%Y/Y to $2.75, in line with consensus $19.5B/$2.75. We expect focus to be on organic growth, but estimate revenue -4%Y/Y ex M&A, and gross margin down another 240bps Y/Y, only slightly better than Q1’s 300bps Y/Y erosion. We presume IBM will maintain its 2017E EPS outlook for at least $13.80 but continue to see that requiring an extraordinarily big Q4 (without non-operating stretch helpers), with our own estimate still $13.61 even factoring in a Q4 mainframe refresh. We estimate Tech/Cloud Services (-3%Y/Y), GBS/Consulting (-4%Y/Y) and Systems (-16%Y/Y) all soft again in Q2, with Cognitive Solutions growing but just +2%Y/Y even with the help of last year’s M&A and investments in Watson AI.””

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on IBM. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of International Business Machines Corporation from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. Vetr raised shares of International Business Machines Corporation from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.08 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $192.00 target price (up from $185.00) on shares of International Business Machines Corporation in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. Berenberg Bank began coverage on shares of International Business Machines Corporation in a research report on Tuesday, April 4th. They set a “sell” rating and a $140.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of International Business Machines Corporation in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.40.

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE IBM) opened at 141.84 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $149.20 and its 200 day moving average is $162.50. International Business Machines Corporation has a 12-month low of $141.19 and a 12-month high of $182.79. The company has a market cap of $132.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 0.97.

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 18th. The technology company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.23. International Business Machines Corporation had a net margin of 14.58% and a return on equity of 71.53%. The firm had revenue of $19.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that International Business Machines Corporation will post $13.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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In other news, Director James W. Owens bought 1,718 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $153.19 per share, for a total transaction of $263,180.42. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bancorpsouth Inc. increased its stake in International Business Machines Corporation by 3.0% in the second quarter. Bancorpsouth Inc. now owns 20,879 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,212,000 after buying an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC increased its stake in International Business Machines Corporation by 5.6% in the second quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC now owns 51,644 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,944,000 after buying an additional 2,747 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in International Business Machines Corporation by 10.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,505,044 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $385,360,000 after buying an additional 246,913 shares in the last quarter. Virtu KCG Holdings LLC increased its stake in International Business Machines Corporation by 72.7% in the second quarter. Virtu KCG Holdings LLC now owns 35,902 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,523,000 after buying an additional 15,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of International Business Machines Corporation by 17.3% in the second quarter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 50,223 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,726,000 after buying an additional 7,409 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.73% of the company’s stock.

About International Business Machines Corporation

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a technology company. The Company operates through five segments: Cognitive Solutions, Global Business Services (GBS), Technology Services & Cloud Platforms, Systems and Global Financing. The Cognitive Solutions segment delivers a spectrum of capabilities, from descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics to cognitive systems.