Merit Financial Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI) by 42.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,863 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Cummins were worth $1,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CMI. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Cummins in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated purchased a new position in shares of Cummins in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Cummins during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cummins in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in shares of Cummins during the third quarter worth $43,000. 83.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Cummins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Bank of America lowered Cummins from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $243.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Cummins from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Cummins from $270.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Cummins from $298.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cummins presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $282.55.

Cummins Stock Performance

CMI opened at $280.74 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.40 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Cummins Inc. has a twelve month low of $203.18 and a twelve month high of $304.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $285.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $252.92.

Cummins (NYSE:CMI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by ($0.27). Cummins had a return on equity of 25.38% and a net margin of 5.70%. The company had revenue of $8.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.52 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cummins Inc. will post 18.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cummins Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $1.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $6.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. Cummins’s payout ratio is 49.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Tony Satterthwaite sold 37,450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.05, for a total transaction of $9,926,122.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 73,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,545,052.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Tony Satterthwaite sold 37,450 shares of Cummins stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.05, for a total value of $9,926,122.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 73,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,545,052.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Daniel William Fisher acquired 562 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $266.57 per share, with a total value of $149,812.34. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,696.76. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 51,289 shares of company stock valued at $13,576,838 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Cummins Company Profile

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.