Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Price Target Raised to $475.00

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) had its target price lifted by Jefferies Financial Group from $455.00 to $475.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $445.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $365.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Four equities research 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $372.19.

Caterpillar Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE CAT opened at $395.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $190.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $392.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $359.18. Caterpillar has a 1 year low of $255.81 and a 1 year high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Caterpillar news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total value of $368,788.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $642,332.28. The trade was a 36.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 12,657 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.25, for a total transaction of $5,192,534.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 71,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,171,646.75. This represents a 15.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,868 shares of company stock worth $9,679,489 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Caterpillar

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lantz Financial LLC raised its stake in Caterpillar by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,181 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 15.5% in the 2nd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $959,000 after buying an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 631 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 116.6% during the 2nd quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC now owns 1,449 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 93,194 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,043,000 after purchasing an additional 3,620 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is 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.