ITT (NYSE:ITT) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday after DA Davidson raised their price target on the stock from $140.00 to $155.00. DA Davidson currently has a buy rating on the stock. ITT traded as high as $135.33 and last traded at $134.99, with a volume of 10513 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $133.87.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on ITT. StockNews.com lowered ITT from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on ITT from $122.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on ITT from $122.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, ITT presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $124.57.

Institutional Trading of ITT

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ITT. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in ITT during the fourth quarter worth $394,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in ITT by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,463,809 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,009,902,000 after purchasing an additional 65,173 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of ITT during the 4th quarter worth about $247,000. FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of ITT by 69.4% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 26,850 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,204,000 after purchasing an additional 11,000 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in ITT by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 43,771 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,223,000 after buying an additional 3,665 shares in the last quarter. 91.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ITT Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $11.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $124.68 and its 200 day moving average is $112.25.

ITT (NYSE:ITT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The company had revenue of $829.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $814.38 million. ITT had a net margin of 12.50% and a return on equity of 17.91%. ITT’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that ITT Inc. will post 5.76 EPS for the current year.

ITT Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th will be issued a $0.319 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. This is a boost from ITT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. ITT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.81%.

ITT Company Profile

ITT Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells engineered critical components and customized technology solutions for the transportation, industrial, and energy markets in the United States and internationally. The Motion Technologies segment manufactures brake pads, shims, shock absorbers, and energy absorption components; and sealing technologies primarily for the transportation industry, including passenger cars, trucks, light- and heavy-duty commercial and military vehicles, buses, and trains.