Argus analyst John Eade raised his price target on Illinois Tool Works to $200 and kept his Buy rating after above-consensus Q4 earnings and raised FY18 outlook. Eade says the company is on track to deliver "low single-digit sales growth over the long term", adding that the margin expansion and a share buyback program have the potential to drive low double-digit EPS growth. The analyst also sees benefits for the company from lower tax rates and rebounding global GDP.

Stifel raised the firm's price target on Illinois Tool Works to $259 from $258 and keeps a Hold rating on the shares. In a Q1 preview for the diversified industrials group, the firm says it is "generally fairly neutral on stocks under our coverage" with an expectation that companies will be seeing improving demand fundamentals with improving short cycle and waning inventory destocking, offset by the strong performance of the stocks during the quarter. In general, the firm is expecting management commentary to be more positive on the second half, while maintaining a relatively cautious approach to guidance, the analyst tells investors in the preview.