Advisory Alpha LLC Has $658,000 Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Advisory Alpha LLC lowered its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) by 60.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,995 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 2,995 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC's holdings in Caterpillar were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Caterpillar in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Caterpillar in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in Caterpillar during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 375 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares in the company, valued at $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Caterpillar Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE CAT traded down $0.56 on Thursday, hitting $348.77. 1,752,846 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,600,703. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $267.30 and a twelve month high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.37. The company's 50 day moving average price is $320.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $350.10.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.35 by ($0.10). Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. The firm had revenue of $14.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.60 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 21st were issued a $1.41 dividend. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 21st. Caterpillar's payout ratio is 27.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CAT. Citigroup boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $320.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $325.00 to $331.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $396.00 target price (up previously from $389.00) on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer raised Caterpillar from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $395.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Caterpillar from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $309.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.92.

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.