Abacus Planning Group Inc. Purchases 446 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 15.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 446 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hickory Point Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Hickory Point Bank & Trust now owns 2,700 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $890,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Meridian Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,194 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in Caterpillar by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 917 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in Caterpillar by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 24,490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,077,000 after purchasing an additional 1,964 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 35.2% in the first quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on CAT. UBS Group upgraded Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $272.00 to $357.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $395.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on Caterpillar from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $325.00 to $331.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Caterpillar from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $300.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Caterpillar news, Director David Maclennan purchased 375 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $320.70 per share, with a total value of $120,262.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. This trade represents a 5.97% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

NYSE CAT opened at $353.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $320.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $349.69. The company has a market cap of $166.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.37. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12-month low of $267.30 and a 12-month high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its 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). The firm had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 58.18% and a net margin of 16.65%. The business’s revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st were given a $1.41 dividend. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is 27.49%.

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.