Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $375.63.

CAT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $321.00 to $365.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $349.00 to $332.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Caterpillar from $454.00 to $471.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Caterpillar from $435.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Activity

In other Caterpillar news, Director Gerald Johnson purchased 100 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $398.57 per share, with a total value of $39,857.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,176,977.21. This trade represents a 3.51 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.84, for a total value of $1,009,229.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,951 shares in the company, valued at $4,906,356.84. This represents a 17.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 23,868 shares of company stock worth $9,679,489. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Caterpillar

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CAT. SMART Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Caterpillar by 75.9% in the third quarter. SMART Wealth LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $555,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $209,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Caterpillar in the third quarter worth about $800,000. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in Caterpillar in the third quarter valued at about $225,000. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Caterpillar during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,132,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

NYSE:CAT opened at $360.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $173.99 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $390.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $361.18. Caterpillar has a 1-year low of $276.94 and a 1-year high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $16.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Caterpillar will post 21.68 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

About Caterpillar

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.