Joule Financial LLC Has $1.38 Million Stock Position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Joule Financial LLC lowered its stake in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,426 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 799 shares during the quarter. International Business Machines makes up approximately 0.6% of Joule Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Joule Financial LLC’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $1,378,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 buying an additional 365,388 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in International Business Machines by 3.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 74,044,855 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,907,942,000 after buying an additional 2,483,682 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in International Business Machines by 1.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,441,615 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,284,833,000 after buying an additional 903,042 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in International Business Machines by 3.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,701,893 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,228,691,000 after buying an additional 492,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position 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 buying an additional 3,084,458 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on IBM. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target 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. StockNews.com raised International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on International Business Machines from $144.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Evercore raised International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on International Business Machines from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $176.85.

International Business Machines Price Performance

International Business Machines stock traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $193.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,237,112 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,330,355. International Business Machines Co. has a 52 week low of $120.55 and a 52 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. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $183.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $162.47. The stock has a market cap of $177.80 billion, a PE ratio of 23.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.70.

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

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $1.66 dividend. This represents a $6.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio 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.