Baird Financial Group Inc. Acquires 2,958 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Caterpillar Inc. by purchasing an additional 2,958 shares, bringing its total holdings to 405,975 shares, valued at approximately $133.89 million.
• Caterpillar recently raised its quarterly dividend to $1.51 per share, up from $1.41, indicating a commitment to returning capital to shareholders.
• The company's latest earnings report revealed an EPS of $4.72, missing analysts' expectations, while revenue for the quarter was reported at $16.57 billion, exceeding forecasts.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 405,975 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 2,958 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of Caterpillar worth $133,891,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 8.6% during 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. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 43,447.3% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Caterpillar by 0.5% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,304,448 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,089,798,000 after acquiring an additional 15,347 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Caterpillar by 9.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,229,080 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,064,951,000 after acquiring an additional 268,300 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Caterpillar by 5.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,141,936 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,036,211,000 after acquiring an additional 150,533 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research report on Monday, July 14th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $331.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $460.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Baird R W raised shares of Caterpillar from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Caterpillar from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $500.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $457.20.

Caterpillar Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:CAT traded up $0.59 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $415.71. 584,110 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,746,598. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $415.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $361.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $441.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.14, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st were paid a $1.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. This is an increase from Caterpillar's previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. Caterpillar's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.72%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.00, for a total value of $952,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,917 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available through this link. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total transaction of $902,649.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,605,586.40. This represents a 20.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,653 shares of company stock worth $8,943,642 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.