Balentine LLC Sells 2,987 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Balentine LLC decreased its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 81.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 699 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,987 shares during the quarter. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $271,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Caterpillar by 36,842.1% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,299,751 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,833,836,000 after acquiring an additional 7,279,991 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Caterpillar by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,204,445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,386,626,000 after acquiring an additional 264,054 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Caterpillar by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,304,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,089,798,000 after acquiring an additional 15,347 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Caterpillar by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,229,080 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,064,951,000 after buying an additional 268,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Caterpillar by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,141,936 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,036,211,000 after buying an additional 150,533 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 6,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,835,970. The trade was a 25.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total transaction 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 55,985 shares of company stock valued at $25,559,300 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $570.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Melius raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $612.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $331.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $568.50.

Caterpillar Trading Down 0.8%

CAT stock opened at $578.28 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $478.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $408.38. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $596.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market cap of $270.91 billion, a PE ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.46.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $4.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.43. The firm had revenue of $17.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.72 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 14.34% and a return on equity of 47.16%. Caterpillar’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is presently 30.72%.

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.