Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Purchases 1,202 Shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 89.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,543 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,202 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $560,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in IBM. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in International Business Machines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $242,000. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in International Business Machines in the 4th quarter valued at $1,940,000. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC bought a new stake in International Business Machines in the fourth quarter valued at $373,000. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in International Business Machines by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 811,062 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $178,296,000 after acquiring an additional 49,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 75,638 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,615,000 after acquiring an additional 4,625 shares during the period. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on IBM shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on International Business Machines from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on International Business Machines from $217.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, International Business Machines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $231.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Robert David Thomas sold 26,543 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.01, for a total value of $6,715,644.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 45,007 shares in the company, valued at $11,387,221.07. This represents a 37.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

Shares of IBM stock opened at $250.01 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $231.83 billion, a PE ratio of 39.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $248.04 and a 200-day moving average of $230.76. International Business Machines Co. has a one year low of $162.62 and a one year high of $266.45.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.15. International Business Machines had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.67 per share. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is presently 104.21%.

About International Business Machines

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.