Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 1,539,888 Shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,839,252 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,539,888 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.93% of International Business Machines worth $20,189,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M Holdings Securities Inc. bought a new stake in International Business Machines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $587,000. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in International Business Machines by 391.3% in the 4th quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC now owns 13,570 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,983,000 after buying an additional 10,808 shares during the last quarter. Mosley Wealth Management lifted its position in International Business Machines by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 2,197 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in International Business Machines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,461,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in International Business Machines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $94,314,000. Institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on IBM. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on International Business Machines from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer began coverage on International Business Machines in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on International Business Machines from $217.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush started coverage on International Business Machines in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $231.44.

International Business Machines Trading Up 0.2 %

International Business Machines stock opened at $243.75 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $246.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $229.91. International Business Machines Co. has a 12 month low of $162.62 and a 12 month high of $266.45. The company has a market capitalization of $226.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 0.74.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.15. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 9.60%. As a group, equities analysts predict that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.67 dividend. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Robert David Thomas sold 26,543 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.01, for a total transaction of $6,715,644.43. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 45,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,387,221.07. This represents a 37.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.