Pure Financial Advisors LLC Grows Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 4.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $3,689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CAT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Caterpillar by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,809,540 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,980,629,000 after purchasing an additional 284,366 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,449,770 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,790,841,000 after buying an additional 236,315 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Caterpillar by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,081,775 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,294,505,000 after buying an additional 129,143 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,847,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,483,937,000 after acquiring an additional 724,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the 4th quarter valued at $2,184,364,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, Director David Maclennan bought 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $320.70 per share, with a total value of $120,262.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Trading Down 0.4%

CAT opened at $371.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.32. Caterpillar Inc. has a one year low of $267.30 and a one year high of $418.50. The company has a market cap of $175.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.11, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $338.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $346.61.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $14.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 53.77% and a net margin of 15.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. This is a positive change from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CAT. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Caterpillar from $396.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $490.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on Caterpillar from $370.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group raised Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $272.00 to $357.00 in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.83.

Caterpillar Profile

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.