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

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) had its price objective dropped by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $460.00 to $420.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential upside of 12.06% from the company’s current price.

CAT has been the topic of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $349.00 to $332.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Three equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $381.67.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CAT opened at $374.81 on Tuesday. 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 50-day moving average price of $380.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $366.26. The company has a market cap of $180.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.13. Caterpillar has a 12 month low of $276.94 and a 12 month high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $16.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Caterpillar will post 21.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gerald Johnson purchased 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $398.57 per share, for a total transaction of $39,857.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,953 shares in the company, valued at $1,176,977.21. This represents a 3.51 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total transaction of $368,788.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $642,332.28. This trade represents a 36.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,868 shares of company stock worth $9,679,489 over the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Caterpillar

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Caterpillar in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,733,000. One Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 173.0% during the second quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 1,665 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in Caterpillar by 50.2% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 9,721 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,238,000 after purchasing an additional 3,251 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 38.5% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 314,312 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,698,000 after purchasing an additional 87,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. bought a new stake in Caterpillar in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $279,000. 70.98% of the stock is currently 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.