Farther Finance Advisors LLC Purchases 3,481 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) by 41.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,843 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,481 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC's holdings in Caterpillar were worth $3,915,000 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. Wagner Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 668 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 2,256 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $818,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 2,897 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 471 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 375 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $320.70 per share, with a total value of $120,262.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. This represents a 5.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson raised their target price on Caterpillar from $325.00 to $331.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Baird R W raised Caterpillar from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Robert W. Baird raised Caterpillar from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $309.00 to $395.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Caterpillar from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Caterpillar from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $395.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $372.92.

Caterpillar Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of CAT stock traded down $4.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $356.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,609,485 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,570,866. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $325.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $348.98. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52 week low of $267.30 and a 52 week high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $168.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.37.

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 return on equity of 58.18% and a net margin of 16.65%. The business had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.60 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st will be given a $1.51 dividend. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. This is a positive change from Caterpillar's previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. Caterpillar's payout ratio is presently 27.49%.

About Caterpillar

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.