Caterpillar Inc. $CAT Holdings Trimmed by Sentry LLC

Sentry LLC reduced its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,827 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 77 shares during the period. Caterpillar accounts for 1.5% of Sentry LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Sentry LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $7,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Aire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 9,042 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,510,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,954 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,923,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. GSB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. GSB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Verum Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors now owns 3,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $505.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $476.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $447.00 to $502.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.40.

Caterpillar Stock Down 1.2%

Caterpillar stock opened at $524.95 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $245.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $544.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $458.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $394.14.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.88 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $16.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.99 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be given a dividend of $1.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is currently 30.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,168 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.87, for a total transaction of $7,088,152.16. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of the company’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 directly owned 6,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,835,970. This represents a 25.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,985 shares of company stock valued at $25,559,300 in the last quarter. 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.