Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 135 shares during the quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,118,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CAT. Mayport LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the 1st quarter valued at about $238,000. PFG Investments LLC increased its holdings in Caterpillar by 4.1% in the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,122 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC now owns 5,862 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,933,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Advisor Resource Council purchased a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the 1st quarter worth approximately $755,000. Finally, Segment Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,833,000 after acquiring an additional 1,227 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CAT. Oppenheimer upgraded Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $395.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Baird R W raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $325.00 to $331.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $272.00 to $357.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $375.00 to $373.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $375.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Price Performance

CAT stock opened at $360.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52-week low of $267.30 and a 52-week high of $418.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $333.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $347.14.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.35 by ($0.10). Caterpillar had a net margin of 15.71% and a return on equity of 53.77%. The business had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This is a positive change from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.