Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 4,775 Shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 284,148 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,775 shares during the quarter. International Business Machines accounts for about 2.5% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $46,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in International Business Machines by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,076,195 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,515,290,000 after purchasing an additional 365,388 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in International Business Machines by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,592,094 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,337,660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084,458 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in International Business Machines by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,297,545 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,119,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,170 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in International Business Machines by 98,797.1% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,029,001 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,553,876,000 after purchasing an additional 11,017,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in International Business Machines by 4.2% during the 3rd 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. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore raised shares of International Business Machines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $165.00 to $200.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $179.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $155.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Societe Generale reissued a “sell” rating and set a $143.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $165.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $176.85.

International Business Machines Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of IBM traded down $2.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $183.43. 1,104,659 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,843,753. International Business Machines Co. has a 1-year low of $120.55 and a 1-year high of $199.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The company has a market capitalization of $168.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50 day moving average of $188.73 and a 200 day moving average of $167.26.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $3.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.78 by $0.09. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 39.55% and a net margin of 12.13%. The business had revenue of $17.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.07 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a dividend of $1.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $6.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.67%.

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.