D.B. Root & Company LLC Trims Stake in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

D.B. Root & Company LLC cut its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 12.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 120 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CAT. GSB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. GSB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Verum Partners LLC increased its holdings in Caterpillar by 2.5% during the second quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors raised its stake in Caterpillar by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors now owns 3,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,388,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 2.4% during the second quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,216 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, McAdam LLC boosted its position in Caterpillar by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $727,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Melius Research raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $331.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $495.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $383.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $466.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,166 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.65, for a total transaction of $7,941,849.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 465,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $215,289,088.35. The trade was a 3.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,819 shares of company stock valued at $16,885,492. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Up 1.6%

CAT stock opened at $498.48 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $233.53 billion, a PE ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.46. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52 week low of $267.30 and a 52 week high of $504.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $436.99 and a 200 day moving average of $379.06.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted 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 company had revenue of $16.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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.