1858 Wealth Management LLC Grows Stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

1858 Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 365 shares during the quarter. Caterpillar comprises approximately 1.0% of 1858 Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. 1858 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CAT. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 39,534.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,136,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,356,930,000 after buying an additional 2,131,276 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its position in Caterpillar by 4,018.6% during the third quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 255,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $99,874,000 after acquiring an additional 249,155 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Caterpillar by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,952,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,501,554,000 after acquiring an additional 205,012 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 34.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 782,133 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $305,908,000 after purchasing an additional 200,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 106.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 317,828 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $124,309,000 after purchasing an additional 163,725 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Caterpillar from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $350.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $379.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gerald Johnson acquired 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $398.57 per share, with a total value of $39,857.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,176,977.21. This trade represents a 3.51 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,173,226.38. This trade represents a 18.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 28,936 shares of company stock worth $11,558,971. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Price Performance

CAT stock opened at $362.21 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $380.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $371.21. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12-month low of $307.05 and a 12-month high of $418.50. The company has a market capitalization of $174.88 billion, a PE ratio of 16.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.45 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.56%.

About Caterpillar

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.