Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) Shares Purchased by Moors & Cabot Inc.

Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 774 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $1,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ITW. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 103,194.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 72,134,735 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,045,225,000 after buying an additional 72,064,901 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 106,553.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,185,211 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,582,902,000 after purchasing an additional 7,178,474 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Illinois Tool Works in the 4th quarter valued at about $708,259,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,591,278 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,011,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707,780 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Illinois Tool Works by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 22,309,285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,431,195,000 after purchasing an additional 997,389 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ITW. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $256.00 to $258.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. StockNews.com started coverage on Illinois Tool Works in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $213.00 to $198.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $250.00 to $235.00 in a report on Monday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $265.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.25.

Illinois Tool Works Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Illinois Tool Works stock traded up $1.77 during trading on Thursday, reaching $239.29. The company had a trading volume of 80,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,080,842. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.58. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $214.66 and a fifty-two week high of $264.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $231.85 and its 200-day moving average is $237.76. The company has a market cap of $72.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 1.14.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. Illinois Tool Works had a return on equity of 95.68% and a net margin of 19.55%. Illinois Tool Works’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.35 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 9.68 EPS for the current year.

Illinois Tool Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 28th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. Illinois Tool Works’s payout ratio is 54.32%.

Illinois Tool Works Company Profile

Illinois Tool Works Inc manufactures and sells industrial products and equipment worldwide. It operates through seven segments: Automotive OEM; Food Equipment; Test & Measurement and Electronics; Welding; Polymers & Fluids; Construction Products; and Specialty Products. The Automotive OEM segment offers plastic and metal components, fasteners, and assemblies for automobiles, light trucks, and other industrial uses.