Woodstock Corp Sells 45 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Woodstock Corp lowered its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,035 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 45 shares during the quarter. Woodstock Corp’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on Caterpillar from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer raised Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $395.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Caterpillar from $320.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wedbush raised Caterpillar to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $272.00 to $357.00 in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $372.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, Director David Maclennan purchased 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 6,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. This represents a 5.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

NYSE:CAT opened at $347.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $163.50 billion, a PE ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $319.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $350.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.42. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $14.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.60 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st were issued a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 21st. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 27.49%.

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.