Forza Wealth Management LLC Purchases Shares of 753 Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW)

Forza Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 753 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ITW. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 14.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,101 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 0.6% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 108,628 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,018,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 2.8% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,265 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,904,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 0.9% during the third quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 9,122 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,101,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Slow Capital Inc. boosted its position in Illinois Tool Works by 6.0% in the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 11,675 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,694,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ITW shares. Bank of America lowered shares of Illinois Tool Works from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $258.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Illinois Tool Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $277.00 to $240.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays increased their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $224.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $257.00.

Insider Activity at Illinois Tool Works

In other news, EVP Sharon Szafranski sold 801 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.42, for a total transaction of $205,392.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 5,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,505,185.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Michael M. Larsen sold 37,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.06, for a total value of $9,851,485.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,299,844.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sharon Szafranski sold 801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $1,505,185.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 189,471 shares of company stock valued at $48,712,316. 1.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Illinois Tool Works Price Performance

Shares of Illinois Tool Works stock traded up $0.96 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $249.24. The stock had a trading volume of 1,629,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,246,454. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $259.95 and its 200 day moving average is $251.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.06 and a twelve month high of $271.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.59, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.13.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Illinois Tool Works had a return on equity of 96.60% and a net margin of 18.36%. Illinois Tool Works’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Illinois Tool Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Illinois Tool Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.49%.

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.