Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Sells 80 Shares of International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM)

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. decreased its holdings in International Business Machines Co. (NYSE:IBM) by 3.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,345 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 80 shares during the quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 477,193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $78,045,000 after buying an additional 80,474 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC raised its holdings in International Business Machines by 40.5% in the fourth quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 378 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its position in International Business Machines by 48.1% in the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 19,692 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,763,000 after buying an additional 6,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in International Business Machines by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 2,736 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on IBM shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on International Business Machines from $186.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on International Business Machines from $165.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Bank of America raised their target price on International Business Machines from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on International Business Machines from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $182.53.

International Business Machines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE IBM opened at $172.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.13. International Business Machines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $199.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.40.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.53 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.21% and a net margin of 13.18%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that International Business Machines Co. will post 9.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $1.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. This is a positive change from International Business Machines’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.66. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is presently 75.65%.

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.