International Assets Investment Management LLC Buys 944 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 17.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,385 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 944 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $2,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CAT. Baird R W raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Caterpillar from $375.00 to $373.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Caterpillar from $396.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson increased 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, Morgan Stanley raised Caterpillar from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $300.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $376.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 375 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $320.70 per share, with a total value of $120,262.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,133,617.10. This trade represents a 5.97% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of CAT opened at $366.65 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $172.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $335.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $346.24. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1-year low of $267.30 and a 1-year high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 53.77% and a net margin of 15.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. This is an increase from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is 27.49%.

Caterpillar Company 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.