Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Caterpillar has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 16 buy ratings and 9 hold ratings across 25 analysts. The average 12-month price target is about $923.14.
• The company posted a strong quarterly earnings beat, reporting $5.54 EPS versus estimates of $4.65 and $17.42 billion in revenue, above expectations. Revenue rose 22.2% year over year.
• Recent coverage highlights Power & Energy as a key growth driver, supported by backlog growth, capacity expansion, and demand from AI data centers. Insider selling has also been notable, with executives selling more than 100,000 shares over the last 90 days.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-five analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $923.1364.

Several research firms have issued reports on CAT. CICC Research began coverage on Caterpillar in a research note on Friday, February 6th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Truist Financial set a $1,043.00 price objective on Caterpillar in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Caterpillar from $769.00 to $879.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Daiwa Securities Group increased their price objective on Caterpillar from $790.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, HSBC raised their target price on Caterpillar from $850.00 to $1,100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Denise C. Johnson sold 12,605 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $907.91, for a total value of $11,444,205.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 49,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,236,615.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 24,222 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.92, for a total value of $22,354,968.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 86,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $79,397,884.68. The trade was a 21.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 100,551 shares of company stock valued at $91,170,351 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Caterpillar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 17,262 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $8,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,893,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 165,677 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $79,053,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010 shares in the last quarter. Juno Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at about $877,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 73,363 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $35,023,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Caterpillar News

Here are the key news stories impacting Caterpillar this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Caterpillar’s Power & Energy business is being highlighted as a major growth opportunity, with rising backlog, capacity expansion, and demand from AI data centers supporting the company’s longer-term targets. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Separate coverage is reinforcing Caterpillar as a “power infrastructure play,” helped by a strategic framework agreement tied to up to 2.1 gigawatts of incremental power-generation assets, which suggests additional demand beyond its core construction and mining equipment businesses. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Caterpillar was also mentioned among the stocks helping drive a strong Dow rally, indicating broader investor demand for the name during today’s market advance. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Caterpillar was included in a hedge-fund stock screen, which may reflect institutional interest, but the item did not add a clear new catalyst by itself. Article Title

Caterpillar Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of CAT stock opened at $880.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $791.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $690.84. Caterpillar has a one year low of $336.24 and a one year high of $931.35. The stock has a market cap of $405.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.63.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.65 by $0.89. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 48.21% and a net margin of 13.33%.The firm had revenue of $17.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.25 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Caterpillar will post 24.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 20th were paid a $1.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 20th. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Caterpillar's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.06%.

About Caterpillar

Caterpillar Inc is a global manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and locomotives. The company's product portfolio includes earthmoving machines such as excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders and off‑highway trucks, as well as a range of power generation products including generator sets and power systems for industrial and commercial use. Caterpillar serves customers across heavy construction, mining, energy, transportation and related industries with both equipment and integrated technology solutions.

In addition to manufacturing, Caterpillar provides a broad range of aftermarket parts and support services, including maintenance, repair, remanufacturing and fleet management tools.

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