Foster & Motley Inc. Buys 869 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,818 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 869 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $5,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Pacific Point Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $579,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 51.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,688,000 after purchasing an additional 2,519 shares in the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS increased its stake in Caterpillar by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 1,536 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Caterpillar by 72.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 88,936 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,262,000 after buying an additional 37,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 223.1% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 252 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Caterpillar from $395.00 to $483.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Caterpillar from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $300.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Melius raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $335.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $419.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired 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 owned 6,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. This represents a 5.97% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CAT opened at $429.91 on Wednesday. Caterpillar Inc. has a one year low of $267.30 and a one year high of $436.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $202.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $380.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $352.87.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.60 earnings per share. Caterpillar’s revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. This is a boost from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.43%.

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.