MV Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

MV Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,703 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 713 shares during the quarter. MV Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $3,860,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CAT. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. grew its position in shares of Caterpillar by 1.2% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its position in Caterpillar by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 2,897 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,051,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in Caterpillar by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 471 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 703 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAT has been the topic of several recent research reports. 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. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Caterpillar from $325.00 to $331.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley raised Caterpillar from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $300.00 to $283.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group raised Caterpillar from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $272.00 to $357.00 in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to 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 NYSE:CAT traded down $4.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $356.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,609,485 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,564,350. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.37. 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 50 day moving average price of $327.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $348.63. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.35 by ($0.10). Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. The firm had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.60 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. This is a positive change from Caterpillar's previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. Caterpillar's payout ratio is currently 27.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, Director David Maclennan bought 375 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.