Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys 753 Shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,741 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 753 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $11,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in IBM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in International Business Machines by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,076,195 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,515,290,000 after purchasing an additional 365,388 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of International Business Machines by 13.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,257,789 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,280,968,000 after purchasing an additional 1,919,490 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in International Business Machines by 4.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,970,674 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,398,886,000 after purchasing an additional 404,948 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in International Business Machines by 15.9% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 6,345,842 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $890,322,000 after acquiring an additional 871,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 15,439.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,653,462 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $433,974,000 after buying an additional 2,636,386 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

International Business Machines Price Performance

International Business Machines stock traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $168.37. 1,901,159 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,934,180. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.13. International Business Machines Co. has a one year low of $120.55 and a one year high of $199.18. The stock has a market cap of $154.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $185.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.66.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.09. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.21% and a net margin of 13.18%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that International Business Machines Co. will post 9.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $1.67 dividend. This is a boost from International Business Machines’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.66. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 75.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on IBM shares. Evercore ISI raised International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Friday, January 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group raised 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. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on International Business Machines from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, International Business Machines has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $181.29.

International Business Machines Company 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.