Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Price Target Cut to $455.00 by Analysts at Truist Financial

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) had its target price decreased by Truist Financial from $471.00 to $455.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on CAT. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $349.00 to $332.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $380.60.

Caterpillar Trading Up 1.6 %

CAT opened at $380.85 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $380.24 and its 200-day moving average is $366.36. Caterpillar has a 1-year low of $276.94 and a 1-year high of $418.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The company has a market cap of $183.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.66, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Daniel M. Dickinson sold 1,300 shares of Caterpillar 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,079,968. This trade represents a 20.71 % 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 Anthony D. Fassino sold 6,279 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.59, for a total value of $2,565,536.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,565 shares in the company, valued at $13,714,323.35. The trade was a 15.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,868 shares of company stock valued at $9,679,489 over the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 635,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,686,000 after buying an additional 10,212 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 116,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,591,000 after purchasing an additional 6,212 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 13,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,437,000 after purchasing an additional 4,181 shares in the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network purchased a new position in Caterpillar in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $204,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 8,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694 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.