Bernard Wealth Management Corp. Sells 2,562 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Bernard Wealth Management Corp. trimmed its position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 30.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,828 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,562 shares during the period. Caterpillar accounts for 1.0% of Bernard Wealth Management Corp.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Bernard Wealth Management Corp.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $2,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the 2nd quarter worth $226,000. Von Berge Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the second quarter valued at about $209,000. Aberdeen Group plc increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 4.3% in the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 434,586 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $168,563,000 after acquiring an additional 17,826 shares during the period. Zullo Investment Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 2.6% in the second quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,084 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $809,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 2.2% during the second quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,957 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,313,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CAT. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $495.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $476.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $507.00 to $582.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Melius raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $478.20.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

CAT opened at $491.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $230.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $443.23 and a 200 day moving average of $383.88. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $511.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.88 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $16.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.14 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 14.95% and a return on equity of 48.95%. The business’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be given a dividend of $1.51 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,168 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.87, for a total transaction of $7,088,152.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 482,505 shares in the company, valued at $199,211,839.35. This trade represents a 3.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.00, for a total transaction of $952,840.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,835,970. This trade represents a 25.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,819 shares of company stock worth $16,885,492 over the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.