Wedbush Securities Inc. Buys 2,793 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,793 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $7,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 0.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 729,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $285,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,371 shares during the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 1.7% in the third quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 26,274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,276,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the period. Weaver Consulting Group bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $212,000. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 281.3% during the 3rd quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar by 4.4% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 113,044 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,763,000 after purchasing an additional 4,779 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $455.00 to $438.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $452.00 to $414.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Caterpillar from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Caterpillar from $365.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $383.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.09, for a total value of $3,800,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 45,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,173,226.38. This trade represents a 18.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,425 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.70, for a total transaction of $860,147.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,225,742.50. This represents a 27.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

NYSE CAT opened at $287.57 on Friday. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $281.50 and a fifty-two week high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $346.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $371.19.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.17. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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.