Empirical Finance LLC Has $6.91 Million Stock Holdings in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,240 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 566 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $6,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $16,833,642,000 after purchasing an additional 5,546,855 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of International Business Machines by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,487,827 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,467,974,000 after purchasing an additional 330,694 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 444,698 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in International Business Machines by 6.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,796,206 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $829,431,000 after buying an additional 304,390 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in International Business Machines by 151.6% in the first 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 buying an additional 2,118,165 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other International Business Machines news, SVP Nickle Jaclyn Lamoreaux sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.20, for a total transaction of $774,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 25,390 shares in the company, valued at $5,463,928. This trade represents a 12.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America upped their price target on International Business Machines from $209.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on International Business Machines from $217.00 to $208.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on International Business Machines from $200.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $208.12.

International Business Machines Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of IBM stock opened at $208.00 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $218.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $193.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.01. International Business Machines Co. has a 1 year low of $152.13 and a 1 year high of $237.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $192.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.42, a PEG ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 0.71.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $2.30 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.08 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.52% and a net margin of 10.22%. The company’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $1.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 97.23%.

About International Business Machines

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.