Cullen Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in International Business Machines Corporation $IBM

Cullen Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 154,588 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 16,412 shares during the period. Cullen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $45,791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Korea Investment CORP increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 586,968 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $173,866,000 after acquiring an additional 98,797 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 165,827 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $49,120,000 after acquiring an additional 30,784 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 5,500 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 5,002 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tudor Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. now owns 2,481 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $735,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HSBC upgraded International Business Machines from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $218.00 to $231.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded International Business Machines from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price target on International Business Machines from $285.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on International Business Machines from $370.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, International Business Machines currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.17.

International Business Machines Price Performance

NYSE IBM opened at $271.77 on Friday. International Business Machines Corporation has a one year low of $212.34 and a one year high of $332.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $250.02 and a 200 day moving average of $270.34. The company has a market capitalization of $255.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.80.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.10. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 37.23% and a net margin of 15.61%.The company had revenue of $15.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.60 EPS. International Business Machines’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that International Business Machines Corporation will post 12.38 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a $1.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This is a positive change from International Business Machines’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.68. This represents a $6.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 59.77%.

About International Business Machines

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a global technology and consulting company headquartered in Armonk, New York. Founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) and renamed IBM in 1924, the company has evolved from early electromechanical machines to a diversified technology provider serving enterprises and governments worldwide. IBM is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol IBM.

IBM’s principal businesses encompass cloud computing and software, infrastructure and systems, consulting and technology services, and research and development.