Legal & General Group Plc Sells 2,235,612 Shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 24.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,806,018 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,235,612 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.74% of International Business Machines worth $1,496,167,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of IBM. JBR Co Financial Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. JBR Co Financial Management Inc now owns 6,390 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,351 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Titleist Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 1,431 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Callan Capital LLC grew its stake in International Business Machines by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 1,870 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 10,425 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on International Business Machines from $233.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Erste Group Bank raised International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on International Business Machines from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $231.13.

International Business Machines Stock Down 6.6 %

IBM opened at $227.31 on Monday. International Business Machines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $162.62 and a fifty-two week high of $266.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $210.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $251.46 and its 200 day moving average is $232.66.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.15. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 9.60%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $1.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Robert David Thomas sold 26,543 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.01, for a total value of $6,715,644.43. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,387,221.07. The trade was a 37.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.