Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Shares Down 0.2%

Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) traded down 0.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $319.00 and last traded at $320.71. 478,879 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 2,586,751 shares. The stock had previously closed at $321.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI cut shares of Caterpillar from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $338.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $390.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $293.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Caterpillar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $323.35.

Caterpillar Stock Up 0.8 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $345.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $325.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.14.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.07 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.79% and a return on equity of 58.61%. Research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.81 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd will be given a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. This is an increase from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 22nd. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is 23.48%.

Caterpillar announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, June 12th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to purchase up to 12.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 1,508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $512,720.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 20,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,807,820. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 1,508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $512,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,807,820. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 21,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $356.90, for a total transaction of $7,797,194.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 71,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,380,943.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Caterpillar

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. CI Investments Inc. raised its stake in Caterpillar by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 9,394 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,565,000 after acquiring an additional 1,408 shares during the period. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the third quarter valued at approximately $344,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Caterpillar by 7.9% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 14,207 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,879,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Caterpillar by 5.1% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 760,366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $207,580,000 after buying an additional 36,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rodgers Brothers Inc. raised its position in shares of Caterpillar by 1.8% during the third quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 3,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.