BNC Wealth Management LLC Buys 208 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

BNC Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,782 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the quarter. Caterpillar comprises approximately 1.3% of BNC Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. BNC Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $3,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Caterpillar by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,809,540 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,980,629,000 after buying an additional 284,366 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Caterpillar by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,449,770 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,790,841,000 after buying an additional 236,315 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Caterpillar by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,081,775 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,294,505,000 after buying an additional 129,143 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Caterpillar by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,847,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,483,937,000 after buying an additional 724,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at $2,184,364,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $272.00 to $357.00 in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Oppenheimer upgraded 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded Caterpillar from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $300.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Caterpillar from $325.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Caterpillar from $320.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $372.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Caterpillar Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Caterpillar stock opened at $356.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $168.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $327.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $348.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $267.30 and a twelve month high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.60 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st will be given a $1.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 21st. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. This is a positive change from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.