International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) Shares Sold by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management reduced its stake in shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,072 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 76 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in IBM. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 15,439.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,653,462 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $433,974,000 after acquiring an additional 2,636,386 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in International Business Machines by 13.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,257,789 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,280,968,000 after purchasing an additional 1,919,490 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in International Business Machines by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 6,345,842 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $890,322,000 after purchasing an additional 871,247 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 162.4% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 621,682 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $87,204,000 after buying an additional 384,744 shares during the last quarter. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IBM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on International Business Machines from $186.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on International Business Machines in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. They set an “underperform” rating and a $145.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price 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. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $181.29.

International Business Machines Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of IBM traded up $1.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $169.48. The company had a trading volume of 978,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,904,034. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.13. International Business Machines Co. has a 1 year low of $120.55 and a 1 year high of $199.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.09. International Business Machines had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 40.21%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that International Business Machines Co. will post 9.92 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.67 per share. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. This is an increase from International Business Machines’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 75.20%.

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.