Captrust Financial Advisors Raises Stock Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 0.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 129,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 77 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Caterpillar were worth $50,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CAT. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Caterpillar in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in Caterpillar in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Caterpillar during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Caterpillar by 2,160.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 113 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CAT. Evercore ISI cut Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $365.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $349.00 to $332.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Caterpillar from $399.00 to $456.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $365.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total transaction of $368,788.64. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,686 shares in the company, valued at $642,332.28. The trade was a 36.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gerald Johnson bought 100 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $338.59 per share, for a total transaction of $33,859.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $962,272.78. This trade represents a 3.65 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,589 shares of company stock valued at $7,113,953 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

NYSE:CAT opened at $406.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $196.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.10. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1 year low of $247.84 and a 1 year high of $418.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $391.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $357.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.33 by ($0.16). Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. The business had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were given a $1.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

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.