Ritholtz Wealth Management Has $5.03 Million Stake in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 35.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,959 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,372 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $5,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CAT. GSB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Caterpillar by 1.2% in the second quarter. GSB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Verum Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 2.5% in the second quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors now owns 3,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc grew its position in Caterpillar by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 4,683 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,818,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings in Caterpillar by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,216 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.00, for a total transaction of $952,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,835,970. The trade was a 25.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total transaction of $902,649.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,605,586.40. The trade was a 20.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,985 shares of company stock valued at $25,559,300 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Caterpillar Trading Up 4.8%

Shares of NYSE CAT opened at $528.75 on Wednesday. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $531.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $247.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $446.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $386.71.

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

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be given a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is presently 30.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CAT. Bank of America increased their target price on Caterpillar from $495.00 to $517.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $540.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $480.00 to $513.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $450.00 to $506.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $505.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.47.

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.