4,458 Shares in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT Purchased by Old West Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Old West Investment Management LLC acquired 4,458 shares of Caterpillar Inc. valued at approximately $1.47 million, marking a new investment position in the industrial products company.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Caterpillar, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. increasing its target from $475 to $520, indicating strong market confidence in the stock's performance.
• Caterpillar recently raised its quarterly dividend from $1.41 to $1.51 per share, reflecting a commitment to returning value to shareholders amidst slight revenue declines.

Old West Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,458 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,470,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 43,447.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,730,259 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,230,239,000 after buying an additional 3,721,693 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 2,723.1% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,414,280 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $466,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,364,183 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 1st quarter valued at about $391,788,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,847,330 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,483,937,000 after buying an additional 724,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Caterpillar by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,940,391 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,429,416,000 after buying an additional 312,878 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $395.00 to $483.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $475.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Baird R W upgraded Caterpillar from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Caterpillar from $383.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Caterpillar from $331.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $450.87.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.00, for a total transaction of $952,840.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,917 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,835,970. The trade was a 25.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total value of $902,649.70. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 8,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,605,586.40. The trade was a 20.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Caterpillar Price Performance

CAT opened at $435.0040 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.34. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52-week low of $267.30 and a 52-week high of $441.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.79 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.40. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $405.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $357.75.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.88 by ($0.16). Caterpillar had a net margin of 14.95% and a return on equity of 48.95%. The business had revenue of $16.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.99 earnings per share. Caterpillar's quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st were paid a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is a boost from Caterpillar's previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. Caterpillar's payout ratio is presently 30.72%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.