Caterpillar Inc. $CAT Stock Holdings Trimmed by Stephens Consulting LLC

Stephens Consulting LLC cut its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 491 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $191,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Caterpillar by 36,842.1% during the 2nd 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. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased 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 worth $466,430,000 after buying an additional 1,364,183 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Caterpillar during the first quarter worth $391,788,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Caterpillar by 546.6% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 843,093 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $327,297,000 after buying an additional 712,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Caterpillar by 9.1% during 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 buying an additional 268,300 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CAT. Melius raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Caterpillar from $507.00 to $582.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Melius Research raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Caterpillar from $495.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Caterpillar from $383.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $478.20.

Caterpillar Stock Down 1.7%

NYSE CAT opened at $491.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $443.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $384.49. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $267.30 and a twelve month high of $511.50. The stock has a market cap of $230.34 billion, a PE ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.46.

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

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 transaction, the chairman owned 482,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,211,839.35. This represents a 3.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,819 shares of company stock worth $16,885,492 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.