Caterpillar Inc. $CAT Shares Purchased by Exchange Capital Management Inc.

Exchange Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 7.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,011 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Caterpillar by 2,723.1% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,414,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $466,430,000 after buying an additional 1,364,183 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the 1st quarter worth about $391,788,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Caterpillar by 546.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 843,093 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $327,297,000 after acquiring an additional 712,711 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,229,080 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,064,951,000 after purchasing an additional 268,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $1,386,626,000 after purchasing an additional 264,054 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CAT. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Caterpillar from $495.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $495.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. 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 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 for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Two equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $466.53.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

NYSE:CAT opened at $498.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $233.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.46. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $267.30 and a twelve month high of $504.48. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $436.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $378.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released 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). Caterpillar had a net margin of 14.95% and a return on equity of 48.95%. The business had revenue of $16.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $2,835,970. The trade was a 25.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,168 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.87, for a total transaction of $7,088,152.16. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,819 shares of company stock worth $16,885,492. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.