Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) Is Increasing Its Dividend To $1.61

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) has announced that it will be increasing its periodic dividend on the 10th of October to $1.61, which will be 7.3% higher than last year's comparable payment amount of $1.50. This will take the dividend yield to an attractive 2.3%, providing a nice boost to shareholder returns.

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Illinois Tool Works' Future Dividend Projections Appear Well Covered By Earnings

Impressive dividend yields are good, but this doesn't matter much if the payments can't be sustained. Prior to this announcement, Illinois Tool Works' dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This indicates that quite a large proportion of earnings is being invested back into the business.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 11.9%. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we think the payout ratio could be 52% by next year, which is in a pretty sustainable range.

View our latest analysis for Illinois Tool Works

Illinois Tool Works Has A Solid Track Record

The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. Since 2015, the dividend has gone from $1.94 total annually to $6.00. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 12% a year over that time. Rapidly growing dividends for a long time is a very valuable feature for an income stock.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. Illinois Tool Works has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 11% per annum. Shareholders are getting plenty of the earnings returned to them, which combined with strong growth makes this quite appealing.

We Really Like Illinois Tool Works' Dividend

In summary, it is always positive to see the dividend being increased, and we are particularly pleased with its overall sustainability. The company is easily earning enough to cover its dividend payments and it is great to see that these earnings are being translated into cash flow. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. Taking the debate a bit further, we've identified 1 warning sign for Illinois Tool Works that investors need to be conscious of moving forward. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

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