Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $454.00 to $471.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI lowered Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $365.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $384.33.

Caterpillar Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE CAT opened at $362.76 on Wednesday. Caterpillar has a one year low of $276.94 and a one year high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $175.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $385.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $363.76.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.52 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Caterpillar will post 21.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total transaction of $368,788.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $642,332.28. The trade was a 36.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $378.84, for a total transaction of $1,009,229.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,906,356.84. This represents a 17.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,868 shares of company stock valued at $9,679,489. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Caterpillar

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in Caterpillar by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 116,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,591,000 after acquiring an additional 6,212 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in shares of Caterpillar by 43.0% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 13,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,437,000 after purchasing an additional 4,181 shares during the period. First Affirmative Financial Network acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 3rd quarter worth about $204,000. Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 8,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after buying an additional 1,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jackson Square Capital LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC now owns 16,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,485,000 after buying an additional 4,182 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Company Profile

Caterpillar Inc manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives in worldwide. Its Construction Industries segment offers asphalt pavers, compactors, road reclaimers, forestry machines, cold planers, material handlers, track-type tractors, excavators, telehandlers, motor graders, and pipelayers; compact track, wheel, track-type, backhoe, and skid steer loaders; and related parts and tools.