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

Wright Investors Service Inc. lowered its stake in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,314 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,895 shares during the quarter. International Business Machines comprises 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 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in International Business Machines by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,076,195 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,515,290,000 after purchasing an additional 365,388 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in International Business Machines by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,592,094 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,337,660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084,458 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in International Business Machines by 7.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,297,545 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,119,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,170 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 98,797.1% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,029,001 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,553,876,000 after buying an additional 11,017,849 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 4.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,970,674 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,398,886,000 after buying an additional 404,948 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on IBM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $165.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Evercore upgraded shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $179.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $178.67.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

Shares of IBM stock traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $182.70. The stock had a trading volume of 904,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,776,988. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.49 billion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.70. International Business Machines Co. has a twelve month low of $120.55 and a twelve month high of $199.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $188.61 and its 200 day moving average is $168.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $17.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.29 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 39.55% and a net margin of 12.13%. The company’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.60 earnings per share. As a group, research 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a $1.66 dividend. This represents a $6.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

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.