Waterloo Capital L.P. Invests $359,000 in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW)

Waterloo Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,417 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ITW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,326,996 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,675,473,000 after purchasing an additional 94,601 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Illinois Tool Works by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,392,021 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,620,491,000 after buying an additional 99,753 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings 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. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Illinois Tool Works in the 4th quarter valued at about $806,291,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,516,979 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $638,205,000 after acquiring an additional 32,607 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ITW. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $255.00 to $252.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $269.00 to $234.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays cut their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $252.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup lowered their price objective on 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $266.00 to $259.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Illinois Tool Works presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $264.09.

Insider Activity at Illinois Tool Works

In other news, Director Ernest Scott Santi sold 70,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.30, for a total transaction of $18,431,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 260,224 shares of the company's stock, valued at $68,516,979.20. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. O'herlihy sold 48,453 shares of Illinois Tool Works stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.36, for a total value of $13,293,565.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,120,802.68. This represents a 46.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 159,925 shares of company stock worth $42,973,845. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Illinois Tool Works Trading Up 2.5 %

NYSE ITW traded up $5.59 during trading on Friday, reaching $232.40. 1,451,463 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,006,739. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $214.66 and a fifty-two week high of $279.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market cap of $68.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 1.12. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $252.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $258.93.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.04. Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 21.94% and a return on equity of 95.39%. Analysts predict that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.39 EPS for the current year.

Illinois Tool Works Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Illinois Tool Works's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.