Curbstone Financial Management Corp Has $594,000 Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Curbstone Financial Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 14.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,802 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 230 shares during the period. Curbstone Financial Management Corp’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $594,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CX Institutional raised its position in Caterpillar by 21.7% in the first quarter. CX Institutional now owns 30,918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,197,000 after purchasing an additional 5,523 shares in the last quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC raised its position in Caterpillar by 4.1% in the first quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Caterpillar by 6.5% in the first quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,860,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Caterpillar by 2.9% in the first quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 100,101 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Petredis Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Caterpillar in the first quarter worth about $2,595,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer raised shares of Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $395.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $325.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $396.00 price objective (up from $389.00) on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Baird R W raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Caterpillar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $309.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $372.92.

Caterpillar Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:CAT opened at $363.09 on Thursday. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $267.30 and a 12 month high of $418.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $323.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $349.29. The firm has a market cap of $171.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.37.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.35 by ($0.10). Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. The business had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.51 per share. This is a positive change from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is currently 27.49%.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 375 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. This trade represents a 5.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.