Pacer Advisors Inc. Raises Position in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) by 74.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,393 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,436 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $10,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 106,553.0% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 7,178,474 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works during the 4th quarter valued at about $708,259,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,707,780 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 5.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,205,082 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,035,292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,239 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 12.1% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,611,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,363,875,000 after purchasing an additional 607,321 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.77% of the company’s stock.

Illinois Tool Works Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE ITW opened at $268.26 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $80.14 billion, a PE ratio of 27.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 1.13. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.06 and a 12-month high of $271.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $259.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $247.89.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last announced its 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. Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 18.36% and a return on equity of 96.60%. The business had revenue of $3.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.34 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Illinois Tool Works Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Illinois Tool Works’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ITW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial started coverage on Illinois Tool Works in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $301.00 price target for the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 11th. Bank of America lowered Illinois Tool Works from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $260.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Illinois Tool Works from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $277.00 to $240.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $238.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Five research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Illinois Tool Works currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $245.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Randall J. Scheuneman sold 5,827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.29, for a total value of $1,493,401.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,870 shares in the company, valued at $2,273,292.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Illinois Tool Works news, CAO Randall J. Scheuneman sold 5,827 shares of Illinois Tool Works stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.29, for a total transaction of $1,493,401.83. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,273,292.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael M. Larsen sold 37,167 shares of Illinois Tool Works stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.06, for a total value of $9,851,485.02. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,844.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 189,471 shares of company stock valued at $48,712,316 in the last three months. 0.78% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Illinois Tool Works Company 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.