Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Acquires 359 Shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC grew its stake in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $1,001,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ITW. State Street Corp lifted its stake in 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,292,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,645,972,000 after acquiring an additional 167,422 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,443,251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $873,071,000 after acquiring an additional 95,925 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,516,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $638,205,000 after purchasing an additional 32,607 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,503,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $634,797,000 after purchasing an additional 46,287 shares in the last quarter. 79.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Illinois Tool Works

In other Illinois Tool Works news, CFO Michael M. Larsen sold 41,472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.25, for a total transaction of $11,249,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,698,667.50. This trade represents a 45.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $13,293,565.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 55,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,120,802.68. This represents a 46.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 159,925 shares of company stock worth $42,973,845 over the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ITW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $279.00 to $265.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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 decreased their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $255.00 to $252.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $266.00 to $259.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Illinois Tool Works from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $257.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $269.10.

Illinois Tool Works Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ITW opened at $251.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.68 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $258.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $260.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a one year low of $232.77 and a one year high of $279.13.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.04. Illinois Tool Works had a return on equity of 95.39% and a net margin of 21.94%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Illinois Tool Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Illinois Tool Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.19%.

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.