May Hill Capital LLC Invests $272,000 in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

May Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 749 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 729,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $285,382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,371 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Caterpillar during the third quarter valued at $393,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 976.0% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 31,796 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,441,000 after purchasing an additional 28,841 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 1,138 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 38.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 3,982 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after buying an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAT has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised shares of Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $355.00 to $385.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Caterpillar from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Caterpillar from $365.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $383.80.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In other news, Director Gerald Johnson purchased 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $365.57 per share, with a total value of $36,557.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,116,085.21. This represents a 3.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,425 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.70, for a total transaction of $860,147.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,225,742.50. The trade was a 27.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Up 0.2 %

CAT stock opened at $330.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $157.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.97, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $352.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $372.33. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $307.05 and a 12 month high of $418.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.17. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 58.18% and a net margin of 16.65%. As a group, analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.