Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.41

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 9th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be given a dividend of 1.41 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%.

Caterpillar has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 30 years. Caterpillar has a payout ratio of 24.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Caterpillar to earn $22.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.6%.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of CAT stock traded up $6.37 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $394.33. The stock had a trading volume of 552,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,653,927. The company has a market cap of $192.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. Caterpillar has a 12-month low of $223.76 and a 12-month high of $401.17. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $353.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $348.44.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $5.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.53 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $16.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.91 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.58% and a return on equity of 59.88%. The company’s revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar will post 21.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In related news, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 1,508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $527,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 18,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,480,250. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Gerald Johnson acquired 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $338.59 per share, for a total transaction of $33,859.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,842 shares in the company, valued at $962,272.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 1,508 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $527,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,480,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,668 shares of company stock valued at $2,665,760 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CAT. UBS Group raised their price target on Caterpillar from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $338.00 to $321.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America increased their target price on Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Raymond James initiated coverage on Caterpillar in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $339.94.

Caterpillar declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 12th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the industrial products company to reacquire up to 12.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.