Advisors Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 70,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 332 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $25,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 635,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $231,686,000 after purchasing an additional 10,212 shares during the last quarter. West Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at about $230,000. Cadinha & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in Caterpillar in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,084,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Caterpillar by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 23,193 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,414,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the third quarter worth approximately $800,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CAT. StockNews.com lowered Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Caterpillar from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upgraded Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $355.00 to $385.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James raised shares of Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $373.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In related news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.09, for a total transaction of $3,800,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 45,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,173,226.38. The trade was a 18.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,425 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.70, for a total value of $860,147.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,225,742.50. This represents a 27.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of CAT stock opened at $293.35 on Friday. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12-month low of $267.30 and a 12-month high of $418.50. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $333.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $367.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $140.20 billion, a PE ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.21.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 58.18% and a net margin of 16.65%. Analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be given a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.56%.

Caterpillar Company 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.