Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Has $988,000 Position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 51.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,467 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,525 shares during the period. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of International Business Machines by 6.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,152,714 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,833,642,000 after purchasing an additional 5,546,855 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in International Business Machines by 4.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,487,827 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,467,974,000 after acquiring an additional 330,694 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in International Business Machines by 6.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,366,715 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,274,074,000 after acquiring an additional 444,698 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 6.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,796,206 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $829,431,000 after purchasing an additional 304,390 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 151.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,515,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $671,352,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118,165 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on IBM. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $200.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com cut International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on International Business Machines from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Bernstein Bank increased their price objective on International Business Machines from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $208.12.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

Shares of IBM traded down $3.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $214.67. The stock had a trading volume of 8,482,235 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,480,485. International Business Machines Co. has a one year low of $141.58 and a one year high of $237.37. The firm has a market cap of $197.74 billion, a PE ratio of 23.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released 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 firm had revenue of $14.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.08 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.59% and a net margin of 13.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.13 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $1.67 dividend. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is presently 73.65%.

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.