Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Shares Bought by Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,520 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,441 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $8,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Caterpillar in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Albion Financial Group UT raised its position in Caterpillar by 334.8% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 42.9% in the third quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 130.0% during the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 115 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CAT shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on Caterpillar from $460.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Caterpillar from $471.00 to $455.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $380.60.

Caterpillar Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CAT opened at $397.68 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $192.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $379.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $368.17. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52-week low of $287.52 and a 52-week high of $418.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $16.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.15%.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.09, for a total transaction of $3,800,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,182 shares in the company, valued at $17,173,226.38. This represents a 18.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 12,657 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.25, for a total value of $5,192,534.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 71,107 shares in the company, valued at $29,171,646.75. This trade represents a 15.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,868 shares of company stock worth $13,480,389 over the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.