Portside Wealth Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) by 20.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,554 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CAT. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC bought a new stake in Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $375.00 to $373.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Caterpillar from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $309.00 to $395.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $320.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Caterpillar from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $300.00 to $283.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Six equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $372.92.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

CAT traded up $4.53 during trading on Friday, reaching $353.49. 1,605,025 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,597,720. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1 year low of $267.30 and a 1 year high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.37. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $320.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $349.91.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.35 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $14.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 58.18% and a net margin of 16.65%. Caterpillar's quarterly revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st were paid a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 21st. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. Caterpillar's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 375 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 6,653 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.