J. W. Coons Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC decreased its position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,480 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Albion Financial Group UT increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 334.8% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 42.9% in the third quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 130.0% in the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 115 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 6,279 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.59, for a total transaction of $2,565,536.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,714,323.35. The trade was a 15.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gerald Johnson acquired 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,176,977.21. The trade was a 3.51 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 18,704 shares of company stock valued at $7,226,584 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $350.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James raised shares of Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $355.00 to $385.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $383.80.

Caterpillar Trading Down 2.7 %

NYSE:CAT opened at $339.84 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.40, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.12. Caterpillar Inc. has a one year low of $307.05 and a one year high of $418.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $368.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $372.72.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st were issued a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 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.