First City Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW)

First City Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,342 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $1,355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ITW. Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,839 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,030,000 after acquiring an additional 1,870 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,803 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,979,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Illinois Tool Works by 58.4% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $146,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 340,027 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,111,000 after purchasing an additional 16,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1ST Source Bank grew its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 3,937 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. 79.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ITW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $262.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $255.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $312.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays raised Illinois Tool Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $230.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $268.50.

Illinois Tool Works Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of ITW traded up $2.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $252.57. The company had a trading volume of 357,542 shares, compared to its average volume of 549,599. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $267.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.55. The company has a market capitalization of $74.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.10. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 52 week low of $232.77 and a 52 week high of $279.13. 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 announced 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. The company had revenue of $3.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 21.66% and a return on equity of 97.06%. Illinois Tool Works’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.13 EPS for the current year.

Illinois Tool Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Illinois Tool Works’s payout ratio is currently 51.90%.

Illinois Tool Works 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.