Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 129,416 Shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 37.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 471,425 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 129,416 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $103,633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 1,054.5% during the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 127 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of International Business Machines in the third quarter worth $29,000. Avondale Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 56.0% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 156 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of International Business Machines during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in International Business Machines in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at International Business Machines

In other International Business Machines news, SVP Nickle Jaclyn Lamoreaux sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 25,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,463,928. The trade was a 12.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on IBM. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $205.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $208.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bernstein Bank upped their price objective on International Business Machines from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, International Business Machines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $215.81.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE IBM opened at $217.54 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $201.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.74. International Business Machines Co. has a 52-week low of $162.62 and a 52-week high of $239.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $222.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $210.16.

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

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $1.67 dividend. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.