United Asset Strategies Inc. Acquires New Position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

United Asset Strategies Inc. bought a new position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,416 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $395,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in International Business Machines by 98,797.1% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 11,017,849 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of International Business Machines during the 4th quarter valued at about $876,014,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,592,094 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,337,660,000 after acquiring an additional 3,084,458 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 15,439.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,653,462 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $433,974,000 after acquiring an additional 2,636,386 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of International Business Machines by 35.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,460,023 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $579,892,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163,790 shares during the last quarter. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IBM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore raised shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. StockNews.com lowered International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Societe Generale restated a “sell” rating and set a $143.00 price target on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on International Business Machines in a report on Friday, January 5th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $178.67.

International Business Machines Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:IBM opened at $183.05 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $167.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $188.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.54. International Business Machines Co. has a 52-week low of $120.55 and a 52-week high of $199.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22.

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

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a dividend of $1.66 per share. This represents a $6.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 81.67%.

International Business Machines 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.