Short Interest in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) Decreases By 5.6%

International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) saw a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,840,000 shares, a decline of 5.6% from the December 15th total of 23,140,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,080,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IBM has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on International Business Machines from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Bernstein Bank increased their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. DZ Bank downgraded 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 note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on International Business Machines from $200.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on International Business Machines from $208.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, International Business Machines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $215.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other International Business Machines news, SVP Nickle Jaclyn Lamoreaux sold 3,600 shares of International Business Machines stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.20, for a total transaction of $774,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On International Business Machines

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in International Business Machines by 20,324.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,715,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $600,373,000 after acquiring an additional 2,702,340 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of International Business Machines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $573,306,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 55,671,883 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,307,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,803 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 306.3% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,401,798 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $242,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,056,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of International Business Machines by 587.1% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 628,213 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $134,262,000 after buying an additional 536,785 shares in the last quarter. 58.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

International Business Machines Price Performance

NYSE IBM opened at $224.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $207.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.71, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.74. International Business Machines has a 12 month low of $162.62 and a 12 month high of $239.35. The company’s 50 day moving average is $222.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $210.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.03. International Business Machines had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 40.52%. The company had revenue of $14.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.20 EPS. International Business Machines’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that International Business Machines will post 10.16 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $1.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. 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.