Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 242 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 13.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $718,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 52.5% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 17,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,812,000 after buying an additional 6,008 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its position in Caterpillar by 17.6% in the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 3,923 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 588 shares during the period. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC raised its holdings in Caterpillar by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 17,562 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,850,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Caterpillar by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 215 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 39.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 255,605 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,976,000 after purchasing an additional 71,788 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $349.00 to $332.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup cut their target price on Caterpillar from $460.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $380.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, insider Lange Bob De sold 12,657 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.25, for a total value of $5,192,534.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 71,107 shares in the company, valued at $29,171,646.75. The trade was a 15.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total transaction of $368,788.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $642,332.28. This trade represents a 36.47 % decrease in their position. 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 90 days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CAT opened at $397.68 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $192.00 billion, a PE ratio of 18.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $379.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $368.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Caterpillar Inc. has a one year low of $287.52 and a one year high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.33 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $16.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.69 EPS 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 given a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.15%.

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.