Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Short Interest Update

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,060,000 shares, a drop of 9.6% from the March 15th total of 14,440,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,430,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.4 days. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.10, for a total transaction of $3,101,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,774,001.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.10, for a total transaction of $3,101,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,774,001.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 21,194 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.52, for a total value of $6,899,070.88. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 61,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,886,667.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,769 shares of company stock valued at $14,509,306 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CAT. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 1st quarter valued at $2,580,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 65,643 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,634,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Caterpillar during the 1st quarter worth about $405,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,592 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 49,705 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,075,000 after purchasing an additional 2,076 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

NYSE:CAT traded down $1.56 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $358.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,309,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,435,316. The firm has a market cap of $178.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $344.54 and a 200-day moving average of $296.35. Caterpillar has a 12 month low of $204.04 and a 12 month high of $382.01.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $5.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.76 by $0.47. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 56.99% and a net margin of 15.41%. The firm had revenue of $17.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.86 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Caterpillar will post 21.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAT has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Caterpillar from $285.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Caterpillar from $290.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Caterpillar from $255.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Evercore ISI lowered Caterpillar from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $338.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Caterpillar in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $270.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $307.56.

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.