Evercore ISI Upgrades Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) to In-Line

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) was upgraded by investment analysts at Evercore ISI from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $365.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 3.99% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on CAT. 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 research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $454.00 to $471.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded 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 research report on Monday, October 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $384.33.

Caterpillar Price Performance

CAT stock opened at $351.01 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $169.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.27, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. Caterpillar has a 12-month low of $276.94 and a 12-month high of $418.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $382.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $365.69.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, Director Daniel M. Dickinson sold 1,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $418.00, for a total value of $543,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,976 shares in the company, valued at $2,079,968. The trade was a 20.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $378.84, for a total transaction of $1,009,229.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,951 shares in the company, valued at $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 a total of 23,868 shares of company stock worth $9,679,489 over the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Caterpillar

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Aprio Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 80.6% in the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 104,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $37,974,000 after purchasing an additional 5,903 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 1,475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 2,552 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 779.2% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. 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.