645 Shares in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Acquired by Phocas Financial Corp.

Phocas Financial Corp. purchased a new position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $155,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Cowa LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Alpha Paradigm Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Caterpillar during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $62,000. 68.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $228.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. UBS Group cut shares of Caterpillar from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $174.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $240.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 9th. Finally, Cowen upped their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $240.00 to $264.00 in a research note on Friday, December 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $241.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other news, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 23,883 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.44, for a total transaction of $5,981,258.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,470,347.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Denise C. Johnson sold 23,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.14, for a total value of $5,700,203.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,066,404.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 23,883 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.44, for a total transaction of $5,981,258.52. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,857 shares in the company, valued at $3,470,347.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 90,984 shares of company stock worth $22,519,893. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE:CAT opened at $215.01 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $246.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $222.28. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.60 and a 52-week high of $266.04. The company has a market cap of $111.02 billion, a PE ratio of 17.00, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.95 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $16.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.84 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 45.61% and a net margin of 11.28%. Caterpillar’s revenue was up 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 15.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Caterpillar

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Caterpillar, Inc engages in the manufacture of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. It operates through the following segments: Construction Industries, Resource Industries, Energy and Transportation, Financial Products, and All Other.