Meritage Portfolio Management Takes Position in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Key Points

• Meritage Portfolio Management acquired a new stake in Caterpillar Inc., purchasing 578 shares valued at approximately $224,000 during the second quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Trivium Point Advisory LLC and Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc., increased their positions in Caterpillar, resulting in 70.98% of the stock currently owned by institutional investors.
• Caterpillar recently upgraded its stock ratings, with analysts giving it a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target of $488.13 following the company's earnings report that revealed a net margin of 14.95%.

Meritage Portfolio Management acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 578 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Trivium Point Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 132.9% during the second quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 1,926 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 9.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 78,947 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $26,037,000 after purchasing an additional 7,125 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in Caterpillar by 11.2% in the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 14,315 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $5,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,440 shares during the period. Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new stake in Caterpillar in the first quarter valued at $427,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Caterpillar by 0.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,304,448 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,089,798,000 after acquiring an additional 15,347 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on CAT shares. Melius upgraded Caterpillar from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $500.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Caterpillar from $475.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI upgraded Caterpillar from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $476.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Caterpillar from $495.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Caterpillar from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $500.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $488.13.

Caterpillar Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of CAT opened at $505.11 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12-month low of $267.30 and a 12-month high of $511.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.64 billion, a PE ratio of 25.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.46. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $444.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $385.71.

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

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar's dividend payout ratio is 30.72%.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In related news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was 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 approximately $2,835,970. This represents a 25.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total value 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,819 shares of company stock worth $16,885,492. 0.33% of the stock is owned by 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.

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