First Merchants Corp Trims Position in Cummins Inc. $CMI

Key Points

• First Merchants Corp reduced its position in Cummins Inc. by 7.6% during the second quarter, owning 15,629 shares worth approximately $5.12 million as of its latest filing.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Cummins, with new targets ranging from $387 to $500, indicating a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Insider trading activity included CFO Mark Andrew Smith selling 8,000 shares worth approximately $3.5 million, reflecting a 20.21% decrease in his ownership.

First Merchants Corp decreased its stake in Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI - Free Report) by 7.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,629 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,281 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Cummins were worth $5,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CMI. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Cummins by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,112 shares of the company's stock worth $736,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in Cummins by 3.5% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,400 shares of the company's stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Cummins by 22.9% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the company's stock worth $868,000 after buying an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its position in Cummins by 7.2% in the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 3,807 shares of the company's stock worth $1,193,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Cummins by 22.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801 shares of the company's stock worth $1,191,000 after buying an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on CMI shares. Barclays upped their price target on Cummins from $381.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on Cummins from $425.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Melius Research upgraded Cummins from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $500.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Cummins from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cummins to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cummins presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $397.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Mark Andrew Smith sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $439.30, for a total value of $3,514,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 31,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,873,972.60. This trade represents a 20.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Amy Rochelle Davis sold 5,002 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.88, for a total value of $2,015,205.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 20,738 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,354,925.44. The trade was a 19.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 43,119 shares of company stock worth $17,674,285. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cummins Price Performance

Shares of Cummins stock opened at $436.53 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $404.89 and a 200 day moving average of $348.14. Cummins Inc. has a 12 month low of $260.02 and a 12 month high of $440.51. The firm has a market cap of $60.15 billion, a PE ratio of 20.52, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Cummins (NYSE:CMI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.21 by $1.22. Cummins had a return on equity of 26.96% and a net margin of 8.72%.The company had revenue of $8.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.26 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Cummins Inc. will post 22.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cummins Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a $2.00 dividend. This represents a $8.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. This is a positive change from Cummins's previous quarterly dividend of $1.82. Cummins's dividend payout ratio is 37.61%.

About Cummins

Cummins Inc designs, manufactures, distributes, and services diesel and natural gas engines, electric and hybrid powertrains, and related components worldwide. It operates through five segments: Engine, Distribution, Components, Power Systems, and Accelera. The company offers diesel and natural gas-powered engines under the Cummins and other customer brands for the heavy and medium-duty truck, bus, recreational vehicle, light-duty automotive, construction, mining, marine, rail, oil and gas, defense, and agricultural markets; and offers parts and services, as well as remanufactured parts and engines.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.