International Business Machines Corporation $IBM Stake Increased by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Key Points

• Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services increased its IBM stake by 7.8% in the second quarter, adding 48,063 shares to hold 665,812 shares valued at approximately $187.2 million.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.96% of IBM, with major holders including Vanguard, State Street, Geode Capital Management, Capital World Investors and Bank of America.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $265.40, while IBM recently reported $2.93 in quarterly EPS and declared a $1.69-per-share quarterly dividend, yielding about 2.9% annually.

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM - Free Report) by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 665,812 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 48,063 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC owned about 0.07% of International Business Machines worth $187,233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,216,131 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $28,796,390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439,824 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in International Business Machines by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,996,293 shares of the technology company's stock worth $16,290,452,000 after buying an additional 518,321 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in International Business Machines by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,605,083 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,679,105,000 after buying an additional 336,069 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 22,021,912 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,523,720,000 after purchasing an additional 4,976,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 7.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,063,653 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,893,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,602 shares during the period. 58.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IBM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on International Business Machines from $255.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of International Business Machines from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of International Business Machines from $303.00 to $225.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of International Business Machines to an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $265.40.

International Business Machines News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting International Business Machines this week:

• Positive Sentiment: IBM’s strategic partnership with OpenAI will embed OpenAI models and tools, including GPT-5.6, into IBM Consulting’s enterprise AI platform. IBM also plans to establish a dedicated OpenAI Practice and train thousands of consultants and engineers, potentially strengthening its position in regulated industries such as finance, government, telecommunications and retail. IBM partners with OpenAI to bolster enterprise AI push
• Positive Sentiment: IBM’s $240 million, multi-year agreement with Together AI will build an NVIDIA-powered AI inference cluster on IBM Cloud. Strong anticipated demand could support growth in IBM’s cloud infrastructure and high-performance AI workloads. Can IBM’s Together AI Cloud Deal Boost Its Growth Prospects?
• Positive Sentiment: IBM-reported research indicates that 85% of organizations planned to increase security spending by May, up from 64% during the prior period, as companies respond to frontier-AI cyber threats. This could benefit IBM’s cybersecurity, consulting and AI automation businesses. Frontier AI Threats Drive Companies to Boost Security Budgets
• Neutral Sentiment: Some coverage characterizes IBM as a relatively attractive technology investment because of its steadier earnings outlook, valuation and dividend, while other commentary highlights longer-term opportunities in quantum computing. These factors may provide support but are unlikely to resolve near-term growth concerns. AST SpaceMobile vs. IBM: Which Tech Stock is the Better Buy Now?
• Negative Sentiment: IBM’s shares have declined even after the OpenAI announcement, suggesting investors want evidence that the alliance can accelerate sales and profits. The partnership’s costs, implementation timeline and ability to convert consulting demand into recurring revenue remain key uncertainties. IBM Stock Drops Despite Major OpenAI Partnership
• Negative Sentiment: Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP announced an investigation into potential securities fraud following IBM’s significant stock decline. The announcement is primarily an attorney solicitation and does not establish wrongdoing, but it adds headline and litigation risk. IBM securities fraud investigation reminder

International Business Machines Stock Performance

Shares of International Business Machines stock opened at $234.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $221.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.70. International Business Machines Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $199.19 and a fifty-two week high of $332.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $251.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $253.20.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.93. International Business Machines had a net margin of 15.52% and a return on equity of 35.65%. The business had revenue of $17.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. International Business Machines's revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that International Business Machines Corporation will post 12.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.69 per share. This represents a $6.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 10th. International Business Machines's dividend payout ratio is 59.98%.

About International Business Machines

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a global technology and consulting company headquartered in Armonk, New York. Founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) and renamed IBM in 1924, the company has evolved from early electromechanical machines to a diversified technology provider serving enterprises and governments worldwide. IBM is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol IBM.

IBM's principal businesses encompass cloud computing and software, infrastructure and systems, consulting and technology services, and research and development.

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