Trust Co. of Vermont Acquires 154 Shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW)

Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 43,123 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $10,934,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,193 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works in the 4th quarter worth $231,000. Verity & Verity LLC raised its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 307.5% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 3,366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $854,000 after purchasing an additional 2,540 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 21,203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,376,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carderock Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Illinois Tool Works by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Carderock Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,358 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,416,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. 79.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ITW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $270.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Illinois Tool Works from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $246.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $255.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $262.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $279.00 to $265.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $270.11.

Illinois Tool Works Price Performance

NYSE ITW traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $256.50. The company had a trading volume of 844,760 shares, compared to its average volume of 768,759. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $264.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $255.29. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 52 week low of $232.77 and a 52 week high of $279.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.12. Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 97.06%. The company had revenue of $3.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.55 earnings per share. Illinois Tool Works’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Illinois Tool Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Illinois Tool Works’s dividend payout ratio is 51.90%.

Illinois Tool Works Company Profile

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.