Great West Life Assurance Co. Can Increases Holdings in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its holdings in shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,127,517 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 23,227 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can owned 0.12% of International Business Machines worth $148,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pitcairn Co. lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 33.8% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 5,888 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,488 shares during the last quarter. Skba Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Skba Capital Management LLC now owns 123,800 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,229,000 after purchasing an additional 5,320 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 3,054 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. TIAA FSB lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 72.2% in the 1st quarter. TIAA FSB now owns 169,994 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $22,285,000 after purchasing an additional 71,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Argent Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 100,122 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,125,000 after purchasing an additional 7,889 shares during the last quarter. 56.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on IBM shares. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Thursday, July 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on International Business Machines from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on International Business Machines from $140.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Bank of America boosted their price target on International Business Machines from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.75.

International Business Machines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:IBM traded down $0.26 during trading on Thursday, hitting $147.80. 826,606 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,564,563. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $140.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $132.89. The company has a market cap of $134.65 billion, a PE ratio of 68.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.28. International Business Machines Co. has a 12-month low of $115.54 and a 12-month high of $153.21.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The technology company reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.18. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 38.10% and a net margin of 3.35%. The firm had revenue of $15.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 EPS. International Business Machines’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that International Business Machines Co. will post 9.43 EPS for the current year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.66 per share. This represents a $6.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 9th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 307.41%.

About International Business Machines

International Business Machines Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated solutions and services worldwide. The company operates through four business segments: Software, Consulting, Infrastructure, and Financing. The Software segment offers hybrid cloud platform and software solutions; software for business automation, AIOps and management, integration, and application servers; data and artificial intelligence solutions; and security software and services for threat, data, and identity.