Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Reduces Stake in International Business Machines Corporation $IBM

Key Points

• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its IBM stake by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 140,509 shares and leaving it with 730,008 shares valued at about $216.3 million.
• IBM posted solid quarterly results, beating expectations with EPS of $1.91 and revenue of $15.92 billion, while revenue rose 9.5% year over year.
• The company continues to lean into AI and cloud growth with new managed services like Red Hat AI Inference and OpenShift Virtualization, even as some analysts have turned more cautious and lowered price targets.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its stake in International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM - Free Report) by 16.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 730,008 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 140,509 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.08% of International Business Machines worth $216,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 13.9% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,045,156 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,809,461,000 after buying an additional 2,077,506 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 1,439,824 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 39.6% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,052,880 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $861,401,000 after buying an additional 865,253 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 64.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,162,741 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $610,239,000 after buying an additional 849,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 17.9% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 4,777,516 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,382,695,000 after buying an additional 725,191 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting International Business Machines

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

• Positive Sentiment: IBM rolled out two new IBM Cloud managed services, Red Hat AI Inference and OpenShift Virtualization, aimed at accelerating AI adoption and securing virtual workloads. The move highlights IBM’s effort to monetize enterprise AI demand and deepen its cloud platform stickiness. Can IBM's Advanced AI and Virtualization Offerings Boost Its Shares?
• Positive Sentiment: IBM’s consulting unit is being repositioned around a new AI delivery model that uses small, senior teams to turn strategy into execution faster. That could support services revenue and improve IBM’s reputation as an enterprise AI implementation partner. A New Way to Make AI Actually Work in the Real World
• Neutral Sentiment: Several commentary pieces argued that IBM’s broader AI and blockchain initiatives from its Think 2026 event could help the company build trust in enterprise AI, but these were mostly thematic analyses rather than new material business updates. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM): Using Blockchain to Build Trust In AI
• Negative Sentiment: A separate market note said IBM’s price target was lowered by $30, which suggests some analysts are becoming more cautious about the near-term outlook despite the company’s AI push. IBM Price Target Lowered by $30
• Negative Sentiment: Another article highlighted IBM among beaten-down stocks that are still well below recent highs, underscoring that sentiment has been weak and the shares remain under pressure from earlier declines. Catching Falling Knives: Is It Time to Buy These Beaten-Down Stocks?

International Business Machines Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE IBM opened at $218.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $241.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $275.44. International Business Machines Corporation has a 52-week low of $212.34 and a 52-week high of $324.90.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $15.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.60 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 37.23% and a net margin of 15.61%.International Business Machines's quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that International Business Machines Corporation will post 12.4 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $1.69 per share. This is an increase from International Business Machines's previous quarterly dividend of $1.68. This represents a $6.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. International Business Machines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on IBM shares. Erste Group Bank cut International Business Machines from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup started coverage on International Business Machines in a research note on Friday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $285.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut International Business Machines from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on International Business Machines from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus set a $360.00 price target on International Business Machines in a report on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $294.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Michael Miebach bought 434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $233.33 per share, for a total transaction of $101,265.22. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,265.22. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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