Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) to Issue Dividend Increase – $1.50 Per Share

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, August 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 1.50 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, October 11th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from Illinois Tool Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40.

Illinois Tool Works has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 54 consecutive years. Illinois Tool Works has a payout ratio of 51.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Illinois Tool Works to earn $10.76 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.0%.

Illinois Tool Works Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of Illinois Tool Works stock traded down $4.49 on Monday, hitting $239.36. The company had a trading volume of 1,189,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,177,647. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.10. Illinois Tool Works has a 1 year low of $217.50 and a 1 year high of $271.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $240.94 and a 200-day moving average of $251.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.09. Illinois Tool Works had a return on equity of 99.74% and a net margin of 19.15%. The company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.08 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.41 earnings per share. Illinois Tool Works’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Illinois Tool Works will post 10.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Byron Smith, Jr. purchased 775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $238.82 per share, for a total transaction of $185,085.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 121,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,018,062.92. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ITW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays lowered their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $217.00 to $215.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $258.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $268.00 to $260.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $283.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $250.75.

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.