Zacks Research Decreases Earnings Estimates for Caterpillar

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) – Research analysts at Zacks Research cut their Q1 2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Caterpillar in a research note issued on Monday, May 19th. Zacks Research analyst M. Das now expects that the industrial products company will post earnings of $4.58 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $4.60. The consensus estimate for Caterpillar’s current full-year earnings is $19.86 per share.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CAT. Raymond James upgraded Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Caterpillar from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $300.00 to $283.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $309.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $452.00 to $414.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush raised shares of Caterpillar to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.33.

Caterpillar Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE CAT opened at $349.01 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $318.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $353.54. Caterpillar has a one year low of $267.30 and a one year high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market cap of $164.40 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.35.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by ($0.10). Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. The business had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,184,364,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Caterpillar by 43,447.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,730,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,230,239,000 after purchasing an additional 3,721,693 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 2,723.1% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,414,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $466,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,364,183 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 1st quarter worth approximately $391,788,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Caterpillar by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,924,054 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,060,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196,861 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,653 shares in the company, valued at $2,133,617.10. This trade represents a 5.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 21st were paid a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.49%.

About Caterpillar

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.