Freestate Advisors LLC Invests $469,000 in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Freestate Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,121 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,000. International Business Machines makes up 0.5% of Freestate Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in International Business Machines by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,152,714 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,833,642,000 after acquiring an additional 5,546,855 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 151.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,515,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $671,352,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,165 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 306.3% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,401,798 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $242,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,056,759 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in International Business Machines by 12,282.2% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 472,382 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $817,000 after buying an additional 468,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in International Business Machines by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,366,715 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,274,074,000 after buying an additional 444,698 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

NYSE IBM opened at $233.34 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $207.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $187.65. The company has a market capitalization of $214.94 billion, a PE ratio of 25.73, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.70. International Business Machines Co. has a 1 year low of $135.87 and a 1 year high of $235.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $15.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.62 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.59% and a net margin of 13.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.18 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $1.67 per share. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IBM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on International Business Machines from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on International Business Machines from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on International Business Machines from $211.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bernstein Bank boosted their price objective on International Business Machines from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $198.41.

About International Business Machines

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.