Caterpillar Inc. $CAT Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 405,660 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 33,300 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $157,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacific Point Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at $579,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Caterpillar by 51.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,688,000 after acquiring an additional 2,519 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 2.3% during the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $996,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,683 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $885,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NTV Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 5.4% in the first quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CAT. Melius raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $570.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. HSBC raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $660.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $350.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $588.94.

Caterpillar Trading Up 4.0%

Shares of CAT stock opened at $569.33 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $486.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $414.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $266.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.23, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.51. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $267.30 and a twelve month high of $596.21.

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

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a $1.51 dividend. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,168 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.87, for a total transaction of $7,088,152.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 482,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,211,839.35. This represents a 3.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total transaction of $902,649.70. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,605,586.40. This represents a 20.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 55,985 shares of company stock valued at $25,559,300 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.