Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Grows Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 16.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Caterpillar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Caterpillar during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.09, for a total value of $3,800,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 45,182 shares in the company, valued at $17,173,226.38. This represents a 18.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gerald Johnson bought 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $365.57 per share, with a total value of $36,557.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,116,085.21. This trade represents a 3.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAT has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $350.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group raised shares of Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $355.00 to $385.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Caterpillar from $365.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $383.80.

Caterpillar Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of CAT stock opened at $342.65 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $357.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $372.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1-year low of $307.05 and a 1-year high of $418.50. The company has a market cap of $163.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.15.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.17. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. On average, research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.