Caterpillar Inc. $CAT Stock Holdings Increased by Davidson Investment Advisors

Davidson Investment Advisors increased its holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 8.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors’ holdings in Caterpillar were worth $504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Trivium Point Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 132.9% in the 2nd quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 1,926 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 9.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 78,947 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,037,000 after acquiring an additional 7,125 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 11.2% during the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 14,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,440 shares during the period. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the first quarter valued at approximately $427,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 0.5% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,304,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,089,798,000 after acquiring an additional 15,347 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CAT shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $540.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $476.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $480.00 to $513.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Melius raised shares of 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $506.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,168 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were 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 approximately $199,211,839.35. The trade was a 3.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 6,917 shares in the company, valued at $2,835,970. This trade represents a 25.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,985 shares of company stock valued at $25,559,300. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Caterpillar Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Caterpillar stock opened at $534.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $250.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $448.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $387.73. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12-month low of $267.30 and a 12-month high of $538.45.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.88 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $16.57 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.99 EPS. Research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

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

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.