Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stake in Cummins Inc. $CMI

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc cut its Cummins stake by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 198,915 shares and ending with 1,029,679 shares valued at about $525.6 million.
• Cummins beat earnings expectations for the latest quarter, reporting EPS of $6.15 versus the $5.63 estimate and revenue of $8.40 billion, up 2.7% year over year.
• The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $2.00 per share and received mostly positive analyst attention, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a price target of $677.87.

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in shares of Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI - Free Report) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,029,679 shares of the company's stock after selling 198,915 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.75% of Cummins worth $525,600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Glenview Trust Co grew its position in Cummins by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Glenview Trust Co now owns 3,913 shares of the company's stock worth $1,997,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cummins in the fourth quarter worth $130,000. Genus Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Cummins by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Genus Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,235 shares of the company's stock worth $3,183,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in Cummins by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 4,957 shares of the company's stock worth $2,530,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC grew its position in Cummins by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 1,147 shares of the company's stock worth $585,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 83.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CMI shares. Robert W. Baird set a $700.00 target price on shares of Cummins in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Cummins in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Cummins from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Cummins from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cummins from $610.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cummins currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $677.87.

Cummins Stock Performance

NYSE CMI opened at $640.41 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $614.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $564.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Cummins Inc. has a 12-month low of $307.90 and a 12-month high of $718.08. The firm has a market cap of $88.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.27.

Cummins (NYSE:CMI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $6.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.63 by $0.52. Cummins had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 25.25%. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.96 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cummins Inc. will post 28.93 EPS for the current year.

Cummins Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $2.00 per share. This represents a $8.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 22nd. Cummins's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cummins

In other news, insider Brett Michael Merritt sold 701 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $688.75, for a total transaction of $482,813.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,165,755. This represents a 6.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Nathan R. Stoner sold 607 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $694.06, for a total transaction of $421,294.42. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,556,784.82. This trade represents a 6.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 17,633 shares of company stock valued at $11,653,357. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Cummins

Cummins Inc NYSE: CMI is a global power technology company that designs, manufactures, distributes and services a broad portfolio of diesel and natural gas engines, electrified powertrains, power generation systems and related components. Founded in 1919 and headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, Cummins has grown into one of the world's leading suppliers of internal combustion engines and a provider of technologies that reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency.

The company's product lineup includes heavy-, medium- and light-duty engines for on-highway and off-highway applications, generator sets and power systems for commercial and industrial use, and key engine components such as turbochargers, fuel systems, air handling, filtration and aftertreatment solutions.

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