Wealthspire Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,336 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CAT. Waterway Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at about $352,000. Farmers Trust Co. lifted its position in Caterpillar by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 4,490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Caterpillar by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Caterpillar by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,310,000 after purchasing an additional 3,558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 16.7% during the third quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 367,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $100,370,000 after purchasing an additional 52,576 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $338.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $357.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $293.00 to $350.00 in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $255.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $323.35.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $323.37 per share, with a total value of $113,179.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,238 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,693,812.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 4,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.80, for a total transaction of $1,508,835.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 23,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,741,725.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $323.37 per share, for a total transaction of $113,179.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 5,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,693,812.06. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of CAT traded up $7.28 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $351.78. The stock had a trading volume of 3,182,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,508,150. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.92, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $352.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $305.22. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $205.60 and a fifty-two week high of $382.01.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.48. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.79% and a return on equity of 58.61%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.07 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.79 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 23.48%.

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.