Park Avenue Securities LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,526 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,764 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $8,172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 39,534.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,136,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,356,930,000 after acquiring an additional 2,131,276 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its position in Caterpillar by 3,319.7% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 275,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $91,606,000 after purchasing an additional 266,969 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its stake in Caterpillar by 4,018.6% during the third quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 255,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $99,874,000 after purchasing an additional 249,155 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,952,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,501,554,000 after buying an additional 205,012 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 782,133 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $305,908,000 after buying an additional 200,210 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CAT opened at $374.81 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $380.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $366.26. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $276.94 and a fifty-two week high of $418.50. The firm has a market cap of $180.96 billion, a PE ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.33 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a $1.41 dividend. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,332.28. This represents a 36.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gerald Johnson purchased 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $398.57 per share, with a total value of $39,857.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,176,977.21. This trade represents a 3.51 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,868 shares of company stock worth $9,679,489 over the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CAT shares. Morgan Stanley cut Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $349.00 to $332.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $454.00 to $471.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $381.67.

Caterpillar Profile

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.