Evercore ISI Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Stock Price

by · The Cerbat Gem

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT – Free Report) had its price target cut by Evercore ISI from $375.00 to $373.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an in-line rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Wedbush raised shares of Caterpillar to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Caterpillar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $309.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $490.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.33.

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Caterpillar Price Performance

Caterpillar stock opened at $342.67 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $318.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $353.46. The company has a market capitalization of $161.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.35. Caterpillar has a 1 year low of $267.30 and a 1 year high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. Caterpillar’s revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Caterpillar will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st were issued a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Caterpillar by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,809,540 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,980,629,000 after buying an additional 284,366 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Caterpillar by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,449,770 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,790,841,000 after buying an additional 236,315 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Caterpillar by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,081,775 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,294,505,000 after buying an additional 129,143 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Caterpillar by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,847,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,483,937,000 after buying an additional 724,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the 4th quarter valued at $2,184,364,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Company Profile

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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.

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