Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,742 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of IBM. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 98,797.1% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,029,001 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,553,876,000 after acquiring an additional 11,017,849 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in International Business Machines in the 4th quarter worth $876,014,000. Morgan Stanley lifted 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 valued at $2,337,660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084,458 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in International Business Machines by 35.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,460,023 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $579,892,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,790 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 7.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,297,545 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,119,007,000 after buying an additional 1,105,170 shares during the period. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

International Business Machines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:IBM traded down $0.95 on Tuesday, reaching $188.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,689,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,136,714. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.21. International Business Machines Co. has a 52-week low of $120.55 and a 52-week high of $199.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $173.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.16, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.70.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $3.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $17.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a $1.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $6.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IBM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $200.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Friday, January 5th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. Evercore upgraded shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on International Business Machines from $165.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, International Business Machines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $176.85.

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.