River Global Investors LLP Grows Position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

River Global Investors LLP raised its holdings in shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 92.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,820 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 12,861 shares during the period. River Global Investors LLP’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $4,387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of IBM. Kennedy Investment Group lifted its position in International Business Machines by 4.4% during the third quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 3,008 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC lifted its position in International Business Machines by 8.3% during the third quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 1,940 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in International Business Machines by 73.6% during the third quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 830 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in International Business Machines by 46.5% during the third quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 2,355 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. lifted its position in International Business Machines by 0.6% during the third quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 140,082 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,653,000 after buying an additional 879 shares in the last quarter. 58.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on IBM shares. Evercore raised 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 report on Friday, January 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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 report on Thursday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted 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 report on Thursday, March 7th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have 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, International Business Machines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $181.29.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

IBM stock traded up $1.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $165.71. 3,400,405 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,768,629. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. International Business Machines Co. has a 52 week low of $120.55 and a 52 week high of $199.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $185.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.74.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that International Business Machines Co. will post 9.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $1.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.03%. This is a positive change from International Business Machines’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.66. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.65%.

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.