Erste Asset Management GmbH Reduces Stock Position in International Business Machines Corporation $IBM

Erste Asset Management GmbH decreased its stake in shares of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) by 22.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 194,011 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 57,478 shares during the quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in International Business Machines were worth $54,384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IBM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of International Business Machines by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,776,307 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,024,243,000 after acquiring an additional 724,832 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in International Business Machines by 0.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,536,963 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,076,406,000 after purchasing an additional 147,721 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in International Business Machines by 1.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 400,131 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in International Business Machines by 3.4% in the 2nd 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 stake in shares of International Business Machines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,011,122,000. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

International Business Machines News Roundup

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 Stock Performance

Shares of International Business Machines stock opened at $242.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average of $288.39 and a 200 day moving average of $283.56. International Business Machines Corporation has a 12 month low of $214.50 and a 12 month high of $324.90.

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

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be given a $1.68 dividend. This represents a $6.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at International Business Machines

In other International Business Machines news, Director Michael Miebach purchased 434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $233.33 per share, for a total transaction of $101,265.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,265.22. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David N. Farr acquired 1,000 shares of International Business Machines stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $304.00 per share, for a total transaction of $304,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director 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 disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,484 shares of company stock valued at $417,157. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IBM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on International Business Machines from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Tuesday. DZ Bank upgraded shares of International Business Machines to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $304.00 to $247.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $320.87.

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.