Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Stake in International Business Machines Corporation $IBM

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its position in International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) by 27.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 428,026 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 158,056 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $120,491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of IBM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in International Business Machines by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,776,307 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,024,243,000 after purchasing an additional 724,832 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 0.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,536,963 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,076,406,000 after buying an additional 147,721 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 1.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,936,235 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,444,527,000 after buying an additional 400,131 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 3.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,126,503 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,100,751,000 after buying an additional 234,318 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of International Business Machines during the second quarter worth about $2,011,122,000. 58.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at International Business Machines

In related news, Director David N. Farr acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $304.00 per share, for a total transaction of $304,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,814,432. This trade represents a 12.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael Miebach bought 434 shares of International Business Machines stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $233.33 per share, for a total transaction of $101,265.22. Following the purchase, the director owned 434 shares in the company, valued at $101,265.22. This represents a ? increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders bought 1,484 shares of company stock worth $417,157 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on IBM. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on International Business Machines from $304.00 to $247.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on International Business Machines from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $340.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. UBS Group upgraded International Business Machines from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $320.87.

International Business Machines Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of IBM stock opened at $253.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $237.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. International Business Machines Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $214.50 and a fifty-two week high of $324.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $280.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $284.68.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.33 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $19.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. International Business Machines had a net margin of 15.69% and a return on equity of 38.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.92 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that International Business Machines Corporation will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be issued a $1.68 dividend. This represents a $6.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is 60.27%.

International Business Machines Company Profile

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.