Arista Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Arista Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 851 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CAT. Pacific Point Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Caterpillar during the 4th quarter worth $579,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 51.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,688,000 after acquiring an additional 2,519 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,311 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,730,000 after acquiring an additional 2,745 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 191,640 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,202,000 after acquiring an additional 30,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its position in Caterpillar by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 1,485 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $476.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Melius Research raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Erste Group Bank raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Melius raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Caterpillar from $517.00 to $594.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.60.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Caterpillar stock opened at $527.41 on Friday. Caterpillar Inc. has a one year low of $267.30 and a one year high of $544.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $453.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $390.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $247.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.46.

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

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a $1.51 dividend. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.72%.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In related news, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,168 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.87, for a total value of $7,088,152.16. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 482,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,211,839.35. This represents a 3.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 value of $952,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,835,970. This represents a 25.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,985 shares of company stock valued at $25,559,300 over the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.