Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Lowers Position in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 0.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,567 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 122 shares during the quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $8,761,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Caterpillar by 36,842.1% during the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,299,751 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,833,836,000 after buying an additional 7,279,991 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 2,723.1% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,414,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $466,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,364,183 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 1st quarter worth approximately $391,788,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 546.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 843,093 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $327,297,000 after purchasing an additional 712,711 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 9.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,229,080 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,064,951,000 after buying an additional 268,300 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Caterpillar from $485.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $506.00 to $581.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Melius Research raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $612.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $584.50.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of CAT opened at $547.38 on Wednesday. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1 year low of $267.30 and a 1 year high of $596.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $483.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $413.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $256.44 billion, a PE ratio of 28.10, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.51.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $4.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.43. Caterpillar had a net margin of 14.34% and a return on equity of 47.16%. The company had revenue of $17.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.17 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be given a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 31.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.00, for a total transaction of $952,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,835,970. The trade was a 25.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total value of $902,649.70. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,605,586.40. This trade represents a 20.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 55,985 shares of company stock valued at $25,559,300 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.