Caterpillar Inc. $CAT Shares Purchased by Granite Investment Partners LLC

Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,054 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CAT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the second quarter valued at about $2,165,899,000. Trivium Point Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 132.9% in the second quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 1,926 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,099 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 9.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 7,125 shares during the last quarter. Palmer Knight Co acquired a new stake in Caterpillar during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,884,000. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in Caterpillar by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 14,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Trading Up 2.6%

NYSE CAT opened at $582.68 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.38. Caterpillar Inc. has a one year low of $267.30 and a one year high of $596.21. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $534.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $447.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $272.68 billion, a PE ratio of 29.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.57.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $4.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $17.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.72 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 47.16% and a net margin of 14.34%.Caterpillar’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 20th were given a $1.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 20th. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CAT. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Caterpillar from $612.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $513.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $476.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Monday. Finally, HSBC upgraded Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $405.00 to $660.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $610.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jason Kaiser sold 10,707 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $563.60, for a total value of $6,034,465.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 8,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,874,576.40. This trade represents a 55.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 14,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.36, for a total transaction of $8,231,825.68. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 80,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,106,333.24. The trade was a 15.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 79,061 shares of company stock valued at $41,949,366 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.