Tufton Capital Management Cuts Stock Holdings in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Tufton Capital Management decreased its holdings in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,907 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 542 shares during the quarter. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $4,728,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 365,388 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,592,094 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,337,660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084,458 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 1,105,170 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in International Business Machines by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,970,674 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,398,886,000 after buying an additional 404,948 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore raised shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $179.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on 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. Bank of America upped their price target on International Business Machines from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of 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 given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, International Business Machines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $178.67.

International Business Machines Stock Up 0.0 %

International Business Machines stock traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $183.15. 994,879 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,777,672. The company has a fifty day moving average of $188.61 and a 200-day moving average of $168.54. The company has a market cap of $167.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.70. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $120.55 and a twelve month high of $199.18.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $3.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.78 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $17.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.29 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 39.55% and a net margin of 12.13%. International Business Machines’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.07 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $1.66 per share. This represents a $6.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.