Pensionfund Sabic Raises Stock Holdings in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW)

Pensionfund Sabic increased its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) by 37.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Pensionfund Sabic’s holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $1,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,434,001 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,277,127,000 after buying an additional 149,272 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,292,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,645,972,000 after purchasing an additional 167,422 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,347,326 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $877,234,000 after acquiring an additional 135,023 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 2.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,702,683 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $640,425,000 after purchasing an additional 62,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,849,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $484,685,000 after purchasing an additional 32,656 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Illinois Tool Works from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $230.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $236.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Illinois Tool Works from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $255.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $262.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $268.50.

Illinois Tool Works Price Performance

ITW traded up $1.26 during trading on Monday, reaching $253.55. The stock had a trading volume of 48,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 544,911. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 1-year low of $232.77 and a 1-year high of $279.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $267.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $254.84. 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 (NYSE:ITW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.97 billion during 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 was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Illinois Tool Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Illinois Tool Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.