Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC Trims Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) by 12.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,440 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 886 shares during the quarter. Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Caterpillar were worth $2,124,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 962 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 184 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 10,771 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,907,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 205 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silvia Mccoll Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Silvia Mccoll Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,752 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $578,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on CAT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $490.00 to $380.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group upgraded Caterpillar from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $272.00 to $357.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Baird R W upgraded Caterpillar from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Caterpillar from $325.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Caterpillar from $396.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, Director David Maclennan purchased 375 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $320.70 per share, with a total value of $120,262.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 6,653 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Caterpillar Price Performance

CAT traded down $6.32 on Monday, reaching $391.54. The company had a trading volume of 3,012,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,526,773. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $351.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $346.74. The company has a market cap of $184.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.32. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52-week low of $267.30 and a 52-week high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.35 by ($0.10). Caterpillar had a net margin of 15.71% and a return on equity of 53.77%. The company had revenue of $14.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.60 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. This is a boost from Caterpillar's previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 21st. Caterpillar's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.49%.

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.