Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $265.18.

ITW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $279.00 to $265.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $255.00 to $252.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $312.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Illinois Tool Works from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th.

Illinois Tool Works Trading Up 7.7 %

ITW opened at $235.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.36. Illinois Tool Works has a one year low of $214.66 and a one year high of $279.13. The company has a market cap of $68.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $253.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $259.35.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.04. Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 21.94% and a return on equity of 95.39%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Illinois Tool Works will post 10.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Illinois Tool Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Illinois Tool Works’s payout ratio is 51.19%.

Insider Activity at Illinois Tool Works

In other news, Director Ernest Scott Santi sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.30, for a total value of $18,431,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 260,224 shares in the company, valued at $68,516,979.20. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael M. Larsen sold 41,472 shares of Illinois Tool Works stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.25, for a total value of $11,249,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,698,667.50. This represents a 45.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 159,925 shares of company stock worth $42,973,845 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Illinois Tool Works

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ITW. Pensionfund Sabic raised its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 37.0% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 7,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 41.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,370,254 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $358,321,000 after buying an additional 398,676 shares during the period. Clark & Stuart Inc acquired a new stake in Illinois Tool Works during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,729,000. Czech National Bank grew its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 58,265 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,774,000 after acquiring an additional 3,227 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 318.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 405,817 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $106,352,000 after acquiring an additional 308,935 shares during the last quarter. 79.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Illinois Tool Works

Illinois Tool Works Inc manufactures and sells industrial products and equipment in the United States and internationally. It operates through seven segments: Automotive OEM; Food Equipment; Test & Measurement and Electronics; Welding; Polymers & Fluids; Construction Products; and Specialty Products.