Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Trims Stake in International Business Machines Corporation $IBM

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC cut its stake in International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) by 8.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,412 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,173 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $9,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of International Business Machines in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,011,122,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in International Business Machines by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,051,475 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,019,274,000 after buying an additional 1,913,708 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 27,928.2% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,903,116 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $561,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,896,326 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 45.8% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,313,241 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $387,118,000 after acquiring an additional 412,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of International Business Machines by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,936,235 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,444,527,000 after acquiring an additional 400,131 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Key International Business Machines News

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

• Positive Sentiment: UBS upgraded IBM from “Sell” to “Neutral,” helping spark buyer interest and supporting a short-term rebound. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: IBM won a Department of War contract (ceiling ~$112M) to modernize electronic shelf labels, a concrete services win that supports revenue visibility in its consulting/systems business. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company directors made small open-market purchases (including Michael Miebach and Michelle Howard), a signal of insider confidence that can bolster investor sentiment after volatility. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst notes and deep-dive pieces argue the recent selloff was overdone given strong Q4 results, record free cash flow and strategic AI/cloud assets — supporting a recovery narrative. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley trimmed its price target to $247 and set an “equal weight” rating, which moderates expectations and keeps upside capped near current levels. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: IBM published its 2026 X‑Force Threat Intelligence Index (ransomware surge and AI-accelerated attacks), which underlines both growing cybersecurity demand (opportunity) and rising threat landscape (risk). Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: The principal near-term downside remains AI-startup disruption fears after Anthropic’s Claude Code claim (automation of COBOL modernization) triggered a sharp selloff; the market is still weighing how quickly enterprise modernization demand could change. Read More.

International Business Machines Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of IBM stock opened at $242.05 on Friday. International Business Machines Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $214.50 and a fifty-two week high of $324.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $288.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $283.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.69.

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

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be issued a $1.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $6.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on IBM shares. Oppenheimer set a $380.00 price target on International Business Machines and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group raised shares of International Business Machines from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Dbs Bank raised shares of International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of International Business Machines from $312.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, International Business Machines has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $320.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael Miebach bought 434 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $233.33 per share, for a total transaction of $101,265.22. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,265.22. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David N. Farr purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $304.00 per share, with a total value of $304,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders acquired a total of 1,484 shares of company stock worth $417,157 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.