FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Has $545,000 Stake in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH reduced its stake in shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 29.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,854 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,167 shares during the quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in IBM. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in International Business Machines by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 477,193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $78,045,000 after purchasing an additional 80,474 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC lifted its position in International Business Machines by 40.5% during the 4th quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 378 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 2,736 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management bought a new position in International Business Machines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $312,000. 58.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on IBM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on International Business Machines from $165.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Wedbush increased their price target on International Business Machines from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, International Business Machines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $182.53.

International Business Machines Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of International Business Machines stock traded up $1.69 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $176.79. The stock had a trading volume of 984,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,528,295. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $169.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.57. International Business Machines Co. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $199.18. The company has a market capitalization of $162.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.09. International Business Machines had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 40.21%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that International Business Machines Co. will post 9.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $1.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This is a boost from International Business Machines’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.66. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is 75.65%.

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.