International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) Shares Sold by Wright Investors Service Inc.

Wright Investors Service Inc. trimmed its holdings in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 24,314 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,895 shares during the period. International Business Machines makes up about 1.1% of Wright Investors Service Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $3,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,076,195 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,515,290,000 after purchasing an additional 365,388 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,592,094 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,337,660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084,458 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,297,545 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,119,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,170 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 98,797.1% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,029,001 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,553,876,000 after acquiring an additional 11,017,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,970,674 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,398,886,000 after acquiring an additional 404,948 shares in the last quarter. 58.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on IBM. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on International Business Machines from $165.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on International Business Machines from $155.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on International Business Machines from $179.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America upped their price target on International Business Machines from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Evercore raised International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $178.67.

International Business Machines Price Performance

IBM stock traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $182.70. 904,589 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,776,988. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.54. International Business Machines Co. has a one year low of $120.55 and a one year high of $199.18. The company has a market cap of $167.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $3.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.78 by $0.09. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 39.55% and a net margin of 12.13%. The business had revenue of $17.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.07 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is 81.67%.

International Business Machines Company Profile

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.