Heck Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,747 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,359,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. West Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at about $230,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,218 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $805,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Victrix Investment Advisors bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,090,000. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. now owns 34,837 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,637,000 after acquiring an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 5,724 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,076,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on CAT shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $375.00 to $373.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Caterpillar to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Caterpillar from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $300.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $309.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $375.33.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, Director David Maclennan acquired 375 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $320.70 per share, with a total value of $120,262.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 6,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of Caterpillar stock opened at $343.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $418.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $318.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $352.53. The company has a market cap of $161.86 billion, a PE ratio of 15.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.35.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $14.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 58.18% and a net margin of 16.65%. Caterpillar’s revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.60 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 21st were issued a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 21st. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 27.49%.

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.