Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,578 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 371 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in International Business Machines by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,379 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in International Business Machines by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,465,214 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,631,000 after acquiring an additional 61,028 shares in the last quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc boosted its position in International Business Machines by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 7,319 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in International Business Machines by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 45,464 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,436,000 after acquiring an additional 5,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lincoln National Corp boosted its position in International Business Machines by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 34,831 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,697,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on IBM shares. Evercore raised International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Wedbush boosted their target price on International Business Machines from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on International Business Machines from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on International Business Machines from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on International Business Machines from $186.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, International Business Machines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $181.29.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

International Business Machines stock traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $168.37. 3,154,776 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,949,592. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $185.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74. International Business Machines Co. has a 1 year low of $120.55 and a 1 year high of $199.18.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.53 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.21% and a net margin of 13.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that International Business Machines Co. will post 9.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $1.67 dividend. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This is a boost from International Business Machines’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.66. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 75.20%.

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.