Tradition Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,739 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CAT. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 43,447.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,730,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,230,239,000 after buying an additional 3,721,693 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 2,723.1% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,414,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $466,430,000 after buying an additional 1,364,183 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the first quarter valued at $391,788,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 11.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,940,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,429,416,000 after buying an additional 312,878 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Caterpillar from $395.00 to $483.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Baird R W raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Evercore ISI raised Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $476.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Melius Research raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Caterpillar from $460.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $450.87.

Caterpillar Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:CAT opened at $420.2390 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $403.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $356.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12-month low of $267.30 and a 12-month high of $441.15. The firm has a market cap of $196.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.40.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.88 by ($0.16). Caterpillar had a return on equity of 48.95% and a net margin of 14.95%.The business had revenue of $16.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.99 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st were issued a $1.51 dividend. This is a positive change from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.72%.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.00, for a total value of $952,840.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,917 shares in the company, valued at $2,835,970. This trade represents a 25.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total value of $902,649.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 8,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,605,586.40. This trade represents a 20.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

About Caterpillar

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.