Sterling Financial Planning Inc. Increases Position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Sterling Financial Planning Inc. raised its position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,353 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc.’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IBM. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 11,017,849 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of International Business Machines during the fourth quarter worth $876,014,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,084,458 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of International Business Machines by 15,439.1% during the fourth 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. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of International Business Machines by 35.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,460,023 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $579,892,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163,790 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

International Business Machines Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of IBM traded down $1.66 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $181.44. The company had a trading volume of 2,886,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,803,908. The stock has a market cap of $166.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $188.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.54. International Business Machines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $120.55 and a fifty-two week high of $199.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $3.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $17.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.29 billion. International Business Machines had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 39.55%. International Business Machines’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $1.66 dividend. This represents a $6.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on IBM. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on International Business Machines from $165.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $155.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America upped their price objective 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, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Friday, January 5th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, International Business Machines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $178.67.

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.