Meritage Portfolio Management Reduces Position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Meritage Portfolio Management reduced its stake in shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,216 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 801 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $8,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of International Business Machines in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. ESL Trust Services LLC acquired a new position in International Business Machines during the first quarter worth $28,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 1,054.5% in the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 127 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in International Business Machines in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of International Business Machines in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Nickle Jaclyn Lamoreaux sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.20, for a total transaction of $774,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 25,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,463,928. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on IBM. Evercore ISI increased their price target on International Business Machines from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of International Business Machines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on International Business Machines from $200.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $208.12.

International Business Machines Price Performance

International Business Machines stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $213.72. 3,201,038 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,595,376. The company has a market capitalization of $197.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $218.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $192.24. International Business Machines Co. has a 1 year low of $145.28 and a 1 year high of $237.37.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.08 billion. International Business Machines had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 40.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.11 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $1.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is currently 97.23%.

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.