Fermata Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Fermata Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $664,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC increased its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 42.9% during the third quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the second quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 47.2% in the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 156 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total transaction of $368,788.64. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $642,332.28. The trade was a 36.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $378.84, for a total transaction of $1,009,229.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,906,356.84. This represents a 17.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,868 shares of company stock worth $9,679,489. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on CAT. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Caterpillar from $471.00 to $455.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price target on Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $349.00 to $332.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $380.60.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

NYSE:CAT opened at $380.85 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $380.24 and a 200-day moving average of $366.36. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $276.94 and a twelve month high of $418.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.15%.

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.