Christopher A. O’herlihy Sells 48,453 Shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) Stock

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) CEO Christopher A. O’herlihy sold 48,453 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.36, for a total value of $13,293,565.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,120,802.68. The trade was a 46.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Illinois Tool Works Stock Down 1.4 %

Illinois Tool Works stock opened at $251.33 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.36. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $232.77 and a fifty-two week high of $279.13. The company has a market capitalization of $73.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $257.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $260.29.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.04. Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 21.94% and a return on equity of 95.39%. Research analysts expect that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Illinois Tool Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. Illinois Tool Works’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ITW. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 6.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,903 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 2.7% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 3,668 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $961,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 16.6% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp increased its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 0.9% during the third quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 4,639 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,216,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 4.1% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,528,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the period. 79.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on ITW. Citigroup cut their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $279.00 to $265.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $266.00 to $259.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target 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. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $255.00 to $252.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays set a $260.00 target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $269.10.

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.