Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.50 on January 10th

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th,Zacks Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 1.50 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, January 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st.

Illinois Tool Works has raised its dividend by an average of 7.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 55 years. Illinois Tool Works has a payout ratio of 56.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Illinois Tool Works to earn $10.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.4%.

Illinois Tool Works Price Performance

Illinois Tool Works stock opened at $256.55 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. Illinois Tool Works has a 52-week low of $232.77 and a 52-week high of $279.13. The firm has a market cap of $75.76 billion, a PE ratio of 22.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $267.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $254.26.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on ITW shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Illinois Tool Works from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $255.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI cut Illinois Tool Works from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $246.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Illinois Tool Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $270.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Illinois Tool Works presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $268.50.

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.