West Tower Group LLC Invests $396,000 in Illinois Tool Works Inc. $ITW

West Tower Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,600 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $396,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ITW. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 55,978.4% in the 1st quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,430,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $354,654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,427,450 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Illinois Tool Works in the 1st quarter valued at $293,928,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,265,005 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $313,734,000 after acquiring an additional 160,009 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 50.5% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 371,034 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $92,020,000 after acquiring an additional 124,443 shares during the period. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 118.7% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 223,227 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $54,789,000 after acquiring an additional 121,141 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ITW. Evercore ISI set a $265.00 price objective on Illinois Tool Works and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $283.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $240.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $262.83.

Illinois Tool Works Stock Performance

ITW opened at $249.46 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $72.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 1.10. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 52-week low of $214.66 and a 52-week high of $279.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.59. The business's fifty day moving average is $260.15 and its 200-day moving average is $250.93.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Illinois Tool Works had a return on equity of 90.89% and a net margin of 21.31%.Illinois Tool Works's quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.54 EPS. Illinois Tool Works has set its FY 2025 guidance at 10.350-10.550 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Illinois Tool Works Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $1.61 per share. This is an increase from Illinois Tool Works's previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $6.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Illinois Tool Works's payout ratio is currently 56.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Randall J. Scheuneman sold 6,802 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.08, for a total value of $1,803,074.16. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,314 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,734,035.12. This trade represents a 39.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ITW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.