PACCAR (NASDAQ:PCAR) Upgraded to Buy at Melius

Melius upgraded shares of PACCAR (NASDAQ:PCAR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on PCAR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of PACCAR from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of PACCAR from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of PACCAR from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $120.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America raised shares of PACCAR from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.50 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of PACCAR from $129.00 to $127.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.23.

PACCAR Stock Performance

PCAR opened at $100.21 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $52.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.67, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.91. PACCAR has a 52-week low of $90.04 and a 52-week high of $125.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $106.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.50.

PACCAR (NASDAQ:PCAR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.70 by ($0.04). PACCAR had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 23.53%. Equities analysts anticipate that PACCAR will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PACCAR Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th were paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 20th. This is an increase from PACCAR’s previous dividend of $0.89. PACCAR’s payout ratio is 16.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PACCAR news, VP Todd R. Hubbard sold 2,000 shares of PACCAR stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.05, for a total transaction of $224,100.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $612,129.15. The trade was a 26.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Harrie Schippers sold 28,676 shares of PACCAR stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.97, for a total transaction of $3,038,795.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 114,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,150,414.23. This represents a 20.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 165,547 shares of company stock valued at $18,261,908 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PACCAR

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PACCAR during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,984,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in shares of PACCAR by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 85,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,916,000 after acquiring an additional 6,494 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of PACCAR by 24.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 30,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,962,000 after acquiring an additional 5,871 shares during the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of PACCAR by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 39,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,061,000 after acquiring an additional 6,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of PACCAR by 1.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,180,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $511,254,000 after acquiring an additional 89,245 shares during the last quarter. 64.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PACCAR Company Profile

PACCAR Inc designs, manufactures, and distributes light, medium, and heavy-duty commercial trucks in the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, South America, Australia, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Truck, Parts, and Financial Services. The Truck segment designs, manufactures, and distributes trucks for the over-the-road and off-highway hauling of commercial and consumer goods.