Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 99,464 Shares of Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI) by 74.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 233,544 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,464 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Cummins were worth $79,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CMI. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Cummins by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 15,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,146,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Destination Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Cummins during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in shares of Cummins by 18.9% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 4,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co purchased a new position in Cummins in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $209,000. Finally, Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Cummins by 1.8% during the third quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. 83.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cummins

In other news, VP Sharon R. Barner sold 162 shares of Cummins stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $357.04, for a total value of $57,840.48. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 20,803 shares in the company, valued at $7,427,503.12. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,489 shares of company stock valued at $2,357,531. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on CMI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cummins from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $355.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cummins from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Cummins from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $294.00 to $408.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Cummins from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Cummins from $349.00 to $371.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $352.85.

Cummins Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CMI opened at $366.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $353.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $314.56. Cummins Inc. has a 12 month low of $226.52 and a 12 month high of $387.90.

Cummins (NYSE:CMI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $5.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.89 by $0.97. The firm had revenue of $8.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.29 billion. Cummins had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 6.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.73 EPS. Analysts expect that Cummins Inc. will post 20.75 EPS for the current year.

Cummins Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $1.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $7.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Cummins’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.08%.

Cummins 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.