Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) Rating Increased to Neutral at Atlantic Securities

Caterpillar, Inc. (NYSE:CAT) was upgraded by stock analysts at Atlantic Securities from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday. The brokerage presently has a $115.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $85.00. Atlantic Securities’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 0.57% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Bank of America Corporation upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $111.00 to $95.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Axiom Securities reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Friday, June 16th. Vetr downgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating and set a $86.90 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.56.

Caterpillar (NYSE CAT) traded up 0.70% during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $114.35. 2,631,896 shares of the stock traded hands. The firm has a market cap of $67.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 638.83 and a beta of 1.25. Caterpillar has a 1-year low of $79.93 and a 1-year high of $114.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $107.93 and a 200 day moving average of $100.19.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $11.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.96 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 0.27% and a return on equity of 18.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Caterpillar will post $5.18 EPS for the current year.

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In other news, Director William A. Osborn sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.67, for a total value of $568,350.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradley M. Halverson sold 182,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.05, for a total value of $20,826,898.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CAT. Howe & Rusling Inc. increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 52.0% in the first quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 1,087 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the second quarter worth $104,000. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the first quarter worth $107,000. First Personal Financial Services increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 167.4% in the first quarter. First Personal Financial Services now owns 1,198 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harfst & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the first quarter worth $111,000. Institutional investors own 70.55% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Company Profile