Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Stock Rating Upgraded by Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) from an underperform rating to an in-line rating in a research report report published on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $365.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com lowered Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $381.67.

Caterpillar Trading Up 0.9 %

CAT stock opened at $374.81 on Monday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $180.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $380.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $366.26. Caterpillar has a fifty-two week low of $276.94 and a fifty-two week high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share (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 net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.52 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Caterpillar will post 21.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a $1.41 dividend. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares in the company, valued at $642,332.28. This trade represents a 36.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel M. Dickinson sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $418.00, for a total transaction of $543,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,079,968. The trade was a 20.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,868 shares of company stock worth $9,679,489. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Caterpillar

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CAT. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Caterpillar by 39,534.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,136,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,356,930,000 after buying an additional 2,131,276 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 3,319.7% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 275,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $91,606,000 after purchasing an additional 266,969 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 4,018.6% in the third quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 255,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $99,874,000 after purchasing an additional 249,155 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 2.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,952,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,501,554,000 after purchasing an additional 205,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in Caterpillar by 34.4% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 782,133 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $305,908,000 after purchasing an additional 200,210 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.