Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Price Target Raised to $570.00

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) had its target price boosted by Citigroup from $540.00 to $570.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on CAT. Melius raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America raised their price target on Caterpillar from $495.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Melius Research raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $476.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $478.20.

Caterpillar Trading Down 0.4%

Caterpillar stock opened at $500.10 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $234.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.46. Caterpillar has a one year low of $267.30 and a one year high of $509.48. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $441.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $382.85.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.88 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $16.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.14 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 48.95% and a net margin of 14.95%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.99 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Caterpillar will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a $1.51 dividend. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.72%.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In related news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.00, for a total value of $952,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,835,970. This trade represents a 25.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total transaction of $902,649.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,605,586.40. The trade was a 20.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,819 shares of company stock worth $16,885,492. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Trivium Point Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 132.9% during the second quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 1,926 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 9.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 78,947 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,037,000 after purchasing an additional 7,125 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 11.2% during the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 14,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares during the period. Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new position in Caterpillar during the 1st quarter valued at about $427,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,304,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,089,798,000 after purchasing an additional 15,347 shares during the last quarter. 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.