Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 27.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,680 shares during the quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $2,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Plancorp LLC increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 2,777 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,591,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. BlueStem Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. BlueStem Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $683,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. KDT Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. KDT Advisors LLC now owns 657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. CFO4Life Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 626 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $359,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Sandy Cove Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 1,279 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Caterpillar Price Performance

CAT stock opened at $872.61 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $401.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.43, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.59. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $339.50 and a twelve month high of $931.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $811.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $703.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.65 by $0.89. The business had revenue of $17.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.53 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 48.21% and a net margin of 13.33%.The company’s revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 24.67 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 20th were issued a $1.51 dividend. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 20th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Lange Bob De sold 24,222 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.92, for a total transaction of $22,354,968.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 86,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,397,884.68. This trade represents a 21.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 15,674 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $918.71, for a total value of $14,399,860.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 52,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,631,913.85. This represents a 22.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 98,273 shares of company stock valued at $89,439,960. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CAT. Argus upped their price target on Caterpillar from $820.00 to $990.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,103.00 price target on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Monday, May 11th. HSBC upped their price target on Caterpillar from $850.00 to $1,100.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on Caterpillar from $650.00 to $845.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued 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 target price of $923.14.

Caterpillar Company Profile

Caterpillar Inc is a global manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and locomotives. The company’s product portfolio includes earthmoving machines such as excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders and off‑highway trucks, as well as a range of power generation products including generator sets and power systems for industrial and commercial use. Caterpillar serves customers across heavy construction, mining, energy, transportation and related industries with both equipment and integrated technology solutions.

In addition to manufacturing, Caterpillar provides a broad range of aftermarket parts and support services, including maintenance, repair, remanufacturing and fleet management tools.