Bessemer Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in International Business Machines Corporation $IBM

Bessemer Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) by 21.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 698,344 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 194,707 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of International Business Machines worth $197,046,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IBM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in International Business Machines by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,051,475 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,019,274,000 after acquiring an additional 1,913,708 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 0.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,536,963 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,076,406,000 after purchasing an additional 147,721 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 1.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,936,235 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,444,527,000 after purchasing an additional 400,131 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in International Business Machines by 3.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,126,503 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,100,751,000 after purchasing an additional 234,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in International Business Machines during the second quarter worth about $2,011,122,000. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

International Business Machines Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE IBM opened at $288.93 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $302.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $283.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. International Business Machines Corporation has a 12-month low of $214.50 and a 12-month high of $324.90. The company has a market cap of $270.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.69.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.33 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $19.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 38.15% and a net margin of 15.69%.The company’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.92 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that International Business Machines Corporation will post 10.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $1.68 per share. This represents a $6.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is presently 60.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at International Business Machines

In other news, Director David N. Farr purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $304.00 per share, with a total value of $304,000.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,814,432. This represents a 12.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Key International Business Machines News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results and analyst lifts — IBM’s Q4 beat (software, hybrid cloud and watsonx AI driving revenue) prompted price-target upgrades from firms including Bernstein and Stifel, supporting a constructive fundamental story. Bernstein and Stifel Lift IBM Price Targets After Q4 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Corporate AI push — IBM launched a global RFP for AI-driven education and workforce solutions (Impact Accelerator), reinforcing its strategic AI/go-to-market initiatives that investors view as long-term growth drivers. IBM Opens Global RFP for AI-Driven Solutions
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish media and insider activity — Jim Cramer reiterated a favorable view on IBM as an AI winner with a reasonable P/E, and recent insider purchases were reported, both of which can boost investor confidence. Jim Cramer Says “IBM’s the Rare AI Winner With a Fairly Low Price-to-Earnings Multiple”
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation and fund flows — Coverage pieces and ETF commentary note IBM’s recent share-strength and repositioning into tech/AI ETFs, but also raise mixed fair-value signals; these are longer-horizon considerations. Assessing IBM Valuation After Recent Share Price Strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Merger paperwork around Confluent — Supplemental disclosures tied to the Confluent deal with an IBM subsidiary have surfaced amid shareholder suits; this creates legal/transactional noise but not an immediate earnings driver. Confluent Issues Supplemental Disclosures Amid Shareholder Lawsuits
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive and technical pressure — IBM shares slipped after Anthropic announced new plugins that could encroach on IBM’s consulting and software revenue, and the stock broke below its 100-day moving average, triggering technical selling. As IBM Stock Breaks Below Its 100-Day Moving Average

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on IBM. Argus set a $360.00 price objective on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on International Business Machines from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, International Business Machines has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $330.07.

International Business Machines Profile

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.