Argus Issues Positive Forecast for Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Stock Price

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at Argus from $460.00 to $625.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Argus’ price target suggests a potential upside of 12.71% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CAT. Evercore ISI raised shares of Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $476.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Caterpillar from $594.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $405.00 to $660.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $610.32.

Caterpillar Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Caterpillar stock opened at $554.54 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a fifty day moving average of $511.40 and a 200 day moving average of $431.86. The company has a market capitalization of $259.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.51. Caterpillar has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $596.21.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $4.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.43. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 47.16% and a net margin of 14.34%.The firm had revenue of $17.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In other news, insider Lange Bob De sold 14,638 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.36, for a total value of $8,231,825.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 80,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,106,333.24. The trade was a 15.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $568.86 per share, for a total transaction of $170,658.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 7,947 shares in the company, valued at $4,520,730.42. This trade represents a 3.92% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 86,229 shares of company stock valued at $43,323,118 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Trivium Point Advisory LLC boosted its position in Caterpillar by 132.9% in the second quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 1,926 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 78,947 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,037,000 after acquiring an additional 7,125 shares during the period. Palmer Knight Co purchased a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,884,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 11.2% in the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 14,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,440 shares during the period. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the first quarter worth $427,000. 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.