Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Purchases Shares of 942 International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. acquired a new position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 942 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in International Business Machines by 4.1% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,487,827 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,467,974,000 after purchasing an additional 330,694 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,195,933 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,148,717,000 after buying an additional 294,276 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in International Business Machines by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,796,206 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $829,431,000 after acquiring an additional 304,390 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its position in International Business Machines by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,726,700 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $602,819,000 after acquiring an additional 12,400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at International Business Machines

In other news, SVP Nickle Jaclyn Lamoreaux sold 3,600 shares of International Business Machines stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was 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 approximately $5,463,928. This trade represents a 12.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on IBM. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $209.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on International Business Machines from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. DZ Bank cut International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $215.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bernstein Bank raised their price objective on International Business Machines from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $208.12.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

Shares of International Business Machines stock traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $226.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 441,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,234,120. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.06. International Business Machines Co. has a one year low of $154.75 and a one year high of $237.37. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $219.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.00. The stock has a market cap of $209.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.71.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $14.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.08 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.52% and a net margin of 10.22%. International Business Machines’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $1.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. 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.