Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Cut to “Hold” at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $350.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $293.00.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Caterpillar from $357.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on Caterpillar from $255.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Caterpillar from $385.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Caterpillar in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They set an equal weight rating and a $270.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI cut Caterpillar from an outperform rating to an in-line rating and raised their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $338.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $316.88.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of CAT stock opened at $343.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Caterpillar has a twelve month low of $204.04 and a twelve month high of $382.01. The company has a market cap of $171.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $350.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $301.19.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.12 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.07 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 58.61% and a net margin of 16.79%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Caterpillar will post 21.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 4,575 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.80, for a total transaction of $1,508,835.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 23,474 shares in the company, valued at $7,741,725.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 4,575 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.80, for a total transaction of $1,508,835.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 23,474 shares in the company, valued at $7,741,725.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 21,194 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.52, for a total value of $6,899,070.88. Following the sale, the insider now 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 worth $11,508,906 over the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Caterpillar

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Waterway Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at $352,000. Farmers Trust Co. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Caterpillar by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Caterpillar by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.