International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) Short Interest Update

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 20,980,000 shares, a decline of 11.4% from the October 15th total of 23,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,830,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on IBM. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $200.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $209.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $217.00 to $208.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $208.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Nickle Jaclyn Lamoreaux sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.20, for a total transaction of $774,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 25,390 shares in the company, valued at $5,463,928. This represents a 12.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of International Business Machines by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 55,671,883 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,307,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,803 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 4.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,487,827 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,467,974,000 after buying an additional 330,694 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of International Business Machines by 6.4% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,366,715 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,274,074,000 after purchasing an additional 444,698 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in International Business Machines by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,195,933 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,148,717,000 after buying an additional 294,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in International Business Machines by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,796,206 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $829,431,000 after acquiring an additional 304,390 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

International Business Machines Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:IBM traded down $1.40 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $206.69. The company had a trading volume of 212,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,215,337. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $218.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.18. The company has a market capitalization of $191.12 billion, a PE ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.01. International Business Machines has a 52 week low of $152.35 and a 52 week high of $237.37.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.03. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.52% and a net margin of 10.22%. The company had revenue of $14.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.08 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.20 EPS. International Business Machines’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that International Business Machines will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.67 per share. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 97.23%.

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.