Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Stock Rating Lowered by Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $350.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $293.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CAT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Caterpillar from $290.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Oppenheimer reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $300.00 to $338.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Caterpillar from $210.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $310.83.

Caterpillar Price Performance

CAT opened at $343.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $171.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.50, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.17. Caterpillar has a 52-week low of $204.04 and a 52-week high of $382.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The business has a fifty day moving average of $350.10 and a 200 day moving average of $300.80.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.12 by $0.48. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.79% and a return on equity of 58.61%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.07 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar will post 21.3 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 4,575 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.80, for a total transaction of $1,508,835.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,741,725.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 4,575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.80, for a total value of $1,508,835.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,725.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 21,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.52, for a total transaction of $6,899,070.88. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 61,092 shares in the company, valued at $19,886,667.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,769 shares of company stock valued at $11,508,906 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Caterpillar

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Waterway Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter worth $352,000. Farmers Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 4,490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Caterpillar by 16.7% in the third quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 367,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $100,370,000 after purchasing an additional 52,576 shares during the period. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC increased its position in Caterpillar by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.