Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $994.38

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $994.38.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CAT. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $900.00 to $925.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,118.00 price objective on shares of Caterpillar in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird set a $970.00 target price on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Caterpillar news, CEO Joseph E. Creed sold 32,401 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $808.98, for a total transaction of $26,211,760.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 34,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,954,303.90. This trade represents a 48.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Caterpillar

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 0.7% in the second quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,741,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 944 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $936,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Bell Bank raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 0.6% in the second quarter. Bell Bank now owns 1,865 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 0.7% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 1,818 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,288,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Resource Group boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 1,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Stock Down 0.2%

Caterpillar stock opened at $819.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $376.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.27, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.37. Caterpillar has a fifty-two week low of $467.46 and a fifty-two week high of $1,073.46. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $827.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $846.48.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $8.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.22 by $1.95. The firm had revenue of $20.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.34 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 55.53% and a net margin of 14.51%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.72 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Caterpillar will post 27.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Company Profile

Caterpillar Inc is a global manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. Its products are used in infrastructure development, construction, mining, energy production, transportation, agriculture, forestry, and other industrial applications.

The company markets equipment and related services through a worldwide network of independent dealers. Its operations are generally organized around Construction Industries, Resource Industries, and Energy & Transportation.