ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $168.38.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ITT. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of ITT in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on ITT from $183.00 to $181.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com raised ITT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on ITT from $165.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on ITT from $164.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st.

Institutional Trading of ITT

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ITT in the 3rd quarter valued at about $67,503,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of ITT by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 517,307 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $73,913,000 after acquiring an additional 3,424 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC grew its position in shares of ITT by 101.2% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 18,034 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,696,000 after purchasing an additional 9,070 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in shares of ITT by 422.7% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,208 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $601,000 after purchasing an additional 3,403 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of ITT by 880.0% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,156 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936 shares during the period. 91.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ITT Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ITT opened at $134.93 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $143.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.78. The company has a market cap of $10.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. ITT has a 12-month low of $121.01 and a 12-month high of $161.13.

ITT (NYSE:ITT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The conglomerate reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.02. ITT had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 18.03%. On average, research analysts expect that ITT will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ITT Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.351 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is a boost from ITT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. ITT’s dividend payout ratio is 22.22%.

About ITT

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.