Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Has $2.25 Million Stock Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 9.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,801 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $2,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 36,842.1% during the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,299,751 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,833,836,000 after purchasing an additional 7,279,991 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 6.7% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,204,445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,386,626,000 after purchasing an additional 264,054 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 0.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,304,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,089,798,000 after acquiring an additional 15,347 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 9.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,229,080 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,064,951,000 after acquiring an additional 268,300 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 5.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,141,936 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,036,211,000 after acquiring an additional 150,533 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.29, for a total transaction of $8,673,808.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 448,173 shares in the company, valued at $226,457,335.17. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total value of $902,649.70. Following the sale, the insider owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,605,586.40. This represents a 20.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,985 shares of company stock worth $25,559,300 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CAT shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $331.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Melius Research raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Melius raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.60.

Caterpillar Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of CAT stock opened at $527.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $247.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $453.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $390.54. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $544.99.

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

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

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

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.