Aprio Wealth Management LLC Purchases 845 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 80.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 845 shares during the quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 104,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,974,000 after purchasing an additional 5,903 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders raised its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 1,475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 2,552 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 779.2% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 10,843 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,933,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley cut Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $349.00 to $332.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $435.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $384.33.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of CAT opened at $351.01 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $169.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $382.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $365.69. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1-year low of $276.94 and a 1-year high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $16.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. Caterpillar’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Caterpillar news, Director Gerald Johnson acquired 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $398.57 per share, with a total value of $39,857.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,176,977.21. The trade was a 3.51 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total transaction of $368,788.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,332.28. The trade was a 36.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,868 shares of company stock valued at $9,679,489 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Company 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.