Citigroup Lowers Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Price Target to $420.00

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) had its target price cut by equities researchers at Citigroup from $460.00 to $420.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.21% from the stock’s current price.

CAT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $349.00 to $332.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $381.67.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CAT traded up $8.50 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $371.00. 1,166,474 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,861,621. The firm has a market cap of $179.12 billion, a PE ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Caterpillar has a fifty-two week low of $276.94 and a fifty-two week high of $418.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $381.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $365.94.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. The firm had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Caterpillar will post 21.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total transaction of $368,788.64. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,332.28. This represents a 36.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.84, for a total value of $1,009,229.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,906,356.84. The trade was a 17.06 % 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 valued at $9,679,489 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Caterpillar

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the 2nd quarter worth $2,733,000. One Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 173.0% in the 2nd quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 1,665 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in shares of Caterpillar by 50.2% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 9,721 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,238,000 after acquiring an additional 3,251 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Caterpillar by 38.5% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 314,312 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,698,000 after acquiring an additional 87,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. acquired a new position in Caterpillar during the second quarter valued at approximately $279,000. 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.