Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 593 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CAT. Pacific Point Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the 4th quarter valued at about $579,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar by 51.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,688,000 after purchasing an additional 2,519 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,311 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,745 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Caterpillar by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 3,413 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Caterpillar by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,287 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $754,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Caterpillar Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of Caterpillar stock opened at $513.70 on Thursday. 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 has a market capitalization of $240.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $460.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $394.97. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1 year low of $267.30 and a 1 year high of $544.99.

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

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 30.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CAT. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Caterpillar from $480.00 to $513.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Melius Research raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Melius raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $540.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $450.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $518.19.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In related news, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total value of $902,649.70. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.00, for a total value of $952,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,835,970. This represents a 25.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,985 shares of company stock worth $25,559,300. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.