Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Upgraded at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $395.00 price target on the industrial products company's stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Caterpillar from $490.00 to $380.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Caterpillar to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $365.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Caterpillar from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $300.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Caterpillar from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $366.00.

Caterpillar Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of Caterpillar stock traded up $9.78 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $323.74. The company had a trading volume of 3,764,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,631,022. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company's 50-day moving average is $318.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $357.53. The company has a market cap of $154.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.21. Caterpillar has a twelve month low of $267.30 and a twelve month high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.35 by ($0.10). Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. The company had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.60 EPS. The business's revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Caterpillar will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 21st. Caterpillar's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Caterpillar news, Director Gerald Johnson purchased 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $365.57 per share, for a total transaction of $36,557.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,116,085.21. This trade represents a 3.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,425 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.70, for a total value of $860,147.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,225,742.50. This trade represents a 27.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Caterpillar

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 284,366 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 2.3% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 236,315 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 1.4% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 129,143 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Caterpillar by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,847,330 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,483,937,000 after acquiring an additional 724,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,184,364,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.