Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Receives $616.00 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-four brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, fifteen have issued a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $616.00.

CAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $460.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $476.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $557.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $408.00 to $569.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd.

Caterpillar Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:CAT opened at $578.60 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $270.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.57. Caterpillar has a 1 year low of $267.30 and a 1 year high of $627.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $569.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $479.88.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The industrial products company reported $4.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.43. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 47.16% and a net margin of 14.34%.The company had revenue of $17.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Caterpillar will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 20th will be paid a $1.51 dividend. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 20th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.29, for a total transaction of $8,673,808.14. Following the sale, the chairman owned 448,173 shares in the company, valued at $226,457,335.17. This trade represents a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 14,638 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.36, for a total value of $8,231,825.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 80,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,106,333.24. The trade was a 15.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 61,895 shares of company stock worth $34,007,516. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CAT. Kilter Group LLC purchased a new stake in Caterpillar during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Caterpillar during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Caterpillar by 1,060.0% in the third quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 58 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 49.2% during the first quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc now owns 94 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the second quarter worth $32,000. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Caterpillar Company Profile

Caterpillar Inc is a global manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and locomotives. The company’s product portfolio includes earthmoving machines such as excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders and off‑highway trucks, as well as a range of power generation products including generator sets and power systems for industrial and commercial use. Caterpillar serves customers across heavy construction, mining, energy, transportation and related industries with both equipment and integrated technology solutions.

In addition to manufacturing, Caterpillar provides a broad range of aftermarket parts and support services, including maintenance, repair, remanufacturing and fleet management tools.