Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Price Target Lowered to $300.00 at Morgan Stanley

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) had its target price reduced by Morgan Stanley from $330.00 to $300.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $471.00 to $455.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $380.13.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of CAT opened at $371.88 on Friday. Caterpillar has a 1 year low of $299.93 and a 1 year high of $418.50. The company has a market cap of $179.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $381.40 and a 200-day moving average of $370.82.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.17. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Caterpillar will post 21.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other news, Director Daniel M. Dickinson sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $418.00, for a total value of $543,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,976 shares in the company, valued at $2,079,968. This represents a 20.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 12,657 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.25, for a total value of $5,192,534.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 71,107 shares in the company, valued at $29,171,646.75. This represents a 15.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,111,601. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Caterpillar

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CAT. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 83.5% in the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 4,535 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,511,000 after purchasing an additional 2,063 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 122.9% in the 3rd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 2,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Caterpillar by 6.0% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 98,778 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,634,000 after buying an additional 5,584 shares during the last quarter. Unique Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Caterpillar in the third quarter worth approximately $216,000. Finally, Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in Caterpillar by 2.7% in the third quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 15,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,954,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

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.