Montecito Bank & Trust Increases Stock Position in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Montecito Bank & Trust grew its stake in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,814 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $1,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in International Business Machines during the first quarter valued at about $226,000. VitalStone Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of International Business Machines during the 1st quarter valued at about $84,000. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in International Business Machines by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 32,692 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,243,000 after buying an additional 1,113 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in International Business Machines by 37.8% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 54,411 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,390,000 after buying an additional 14,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its position in International Business Machines by 4.8% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,788,047 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $341,445,000 after acquiring an additional 81,887 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on IBM. 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. DZ Bank lowered shares of International Business Machines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $215.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bernstein Bank lifted their price objective on International Business Machines from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on International Business Machines from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on International Business Machines from $205.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $208.12.

International Business Machines Stock Performance

International Business Machines stock opened at $213.58 on Thursday. International Business Machines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $145.28 and a fifty-two week high of $237.37. The stock has a market cap of $197.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.09, a PEG ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 0.71. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $217.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $191.86. 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 (NYSE:IBM) last released 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 company had revenue of $14.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.08 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.52% and a net margin of 10.22%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that International Business Machines Co. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $1.67 dividend. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 97.23%.

International Business Machines 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.