Hennessy Advisors Inc. Decreases Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) by 18.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 1,600 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $2,309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacific Point Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth about $579,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Caterpillar by 51.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,409 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,688,000 after acquiring an additional 2,519 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth about $7,396,000. ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the 4th quarter worth $997,000. Finally, WealthPLAN Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 1,274 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $462,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Baird R W raised shares of Caterpillar from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating 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. 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 research report on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Caterpillar from $325.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Caterpillar from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $395.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $372.92.

Caterpillar Stock Up 1.4%

CAT stock traded up $5.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $362.21. 1,579,133 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,560,403. 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 firm has a market cap of $170.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.37. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1-year low of $267.30 and a 1-year high of $418.50. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $327.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $347.86.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.35 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. Caterpillar's revenue for the quarter was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS 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 issued a $1.51 dividend. 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. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. Caterpillar's payout ratio is presently 29.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 375 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $320.70 per share, with a total value of $120,262.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.