Investment Partners LTD. Acquires 260 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Investment Partners LTD. boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 7.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CAT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth $2,184,364,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Caterpillar by 43,447.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,730,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,230,239,000 after acquiring an additional 3,721,693 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Caterpillar by 69.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,924,054 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,060,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,861 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Caterpillar by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,847,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,483,937,000 after acquiring an additional 724,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. raised its position in Caterpillar by 1,278.6% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 440,641 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $154,367,000 after acquiring an additional 408,678 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the purchase, the director owned 6,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of CAT opened at $391.54 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $353.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $346.92. 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 results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.35 by ($0.10). Caterpillar had a return on equity of 53.77% and a net margin of 15.71%. The business had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st will be issued a $1.51 dividend. This is an increase from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAT has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $490.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $396.00 to $414.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $395.00 to $422.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price objective (up from $370.00) on shares of Caterpillar in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.83.

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.