First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Raises Holdings in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $1,445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ITW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 5.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,205,082 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,035,292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,239 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 1.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,829,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,954,691,000 after purchasing an additional 244,145 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,899,522 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,578,299,000 after purchasing an additional 97,568 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 1.3% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,742,605 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $401,352,000 after purchasing an additional 22,238 shares during the period. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt lifted its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 150.0% during the 4th quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 1,125,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $294,671,000 after buying an additional 675,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Illinois Tool Works

In other news, EVP Sharon Szafranski sold 801 shares of Illinois Tool Works stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.42, for a total transaction of $205,392.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,505,185.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Sharon Szafranski sold 801 shares of Illinois Tool Works stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.42, for a total value of $205,392.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,870 shares in the company, valued at $1,505,185.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Ernest Scott Santi sold 50,000 shares of Illinois Tool Works stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.44, for a total value of $12,722,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 221,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,235,056.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,471 shares of company stock valued at $35,970,816 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $258.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America downgraded Illinois Tool Works from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $260.00 to $235.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $303.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $255.00 to $244.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $257.78.

Illinois Tool Works Price Performance

ITW stock opened at $243.09 on Friday. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.06 and a 52-week high of $271.15. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $259.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $251.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.14.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Illinois Tool Works had a return on equity of 97.82% and a net margin of 19.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.35 EPS for the current year.

Illinois Tool Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Illinois Tool Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.23%.

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.