Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) Short Interest Update

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,470,000 shares, a decline of 9.1% from the March 31st total of 7,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.9 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other Illinois Tool Works news, CFO Michael M. Larsen sold 37,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,404 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,844.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Sharon Szafranski sold 801 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,505,185.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael M. Larsen sold 37,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.06, for a total transaction of $9,851,485.02. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,404 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,844.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 189,471 shares of company stock valued at $48,712,316 in the last three months. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Illinois Tool Works

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Illinois Tool Works in the 4th quarter valued at about $818,408,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 5.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,205,082 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,035,292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,239 shares during the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt grew its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 150.0% during the 4th quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 1,125,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $294,671,000 after acquiring an additional 675,000 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 122.7% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 629,636 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $164,927,000 after purchasing an additional 346,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 23,183.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 315,260 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $82,579,000 after purchasing an additional 313,906 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of Illinois Tool Works from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $260.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $258.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $224.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Illinois Tool Works in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $301.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $257.00.

Illinois Tool Works Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Illinois Tool Works stock traded up $0.96 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $249.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,629,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,246,454. The stock has a market cap of $74.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.33. Illinois Tool Works has a twelve month low of $217.06 and a twelve month high of $271.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $260.04 and a 200-day moving average of $251.59.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 18.36% and a return on equity of 96.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Illinois Tool Works will post 10.12 EPS for the current year.

Illinois Tool Works Announces Dividend

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

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.