Apella Capital LLC Invests $201,000 in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Apella Capital LLC purchased a new position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 838 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the third quarter worth $33,000. Cowa LLC acquired a new position in Caterpillar during the third quarter worth $33,000. Alpha Paradigm Partners LLC acquired a new position in Caterpillar during the second quarter worth $40,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Caterpillar during the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Caterpillar during the first quarter worth $68,000. 68.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CAT. Cowen increased their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $240.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Caterpillar from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Caterpillar from $228.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised Caterpillar from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $217.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $241.00.

Caterpillar Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE CAT opened at $215.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $111.02 billion, a PE ratio of 17.00, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.39. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.60 and a twelve month high of $266.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $246.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $222.28.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.95 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $16.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.84 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 45.61% and a net margin of 11.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 15.67 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, insider Denise C. Johnson sold 23,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.14, for a total transaction of $5,700,203.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,605 shares in the company, valued at $2,066,404.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Caterpillar news, insider Denise C. Johnson sold 23,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.14, for a total transaction of $5,700,203.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,605 shares in the company, valued at $2,066,404.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel M. Dickinson sold 6,070 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.22, for a total transaction of $1,524,905.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,265,646.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 90,984 shares of company stock worth $22,519,893 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

About Caterpillar

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Caterpillar, Inc engages in the manufacture of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. It operates through the following segments: Construction Industries, Resource Industries, Energy and Transportation, Financial Products, and All Other.