Illinois Tool Works price target raised to $290 from $255 at Jefferies

Jefferies raised the firm’s price target on Illinois Tool Works (ITW) to $290 from $255 and keeps a Hold rating on the shares as part of a broader research note previewing 2025 for the Machinery and Industrial sector. Approaching 2025, the landscape has changed as the markets have turned more bullish on industrial trends and with valuations near the high end of historical highs, the firm has to be “increasingly selective”, Jefferies states. Illinois Tool Works is a “highly defensive play” in industrial land, offering relatively stable margins through the cycle, strong cash flow generation, and an active share repurchase program, and its margin opportunity should have additional years of runway as strategic sourcing initiatives are realized and growth resumes, the firm added.