Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 3,389 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 239,204 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 3,389 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.05% of Caterpillar worth $78,889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacific Point Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at about $579,000. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 51.5% during 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 bought a new stake in Caterpillar during the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,396,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in Caterpillar by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 702 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Caterpillar by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on CAT shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Caterpillar from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $300.00 to $283.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $396.00 price target (up from $389.00) on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $325.00 to $331.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Bank of America increased their target price on Caterpillar from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Caterpillar from $320.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $375.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 375 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 owns 6,653 shares in the company, valued at $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CAT traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $360.23. The stock had a trading volume of 6,260,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,555,977. The company has a market cap of $169.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.56, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.37. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $267.30 and a twelve month high of $418.50. The business's fifty day moving average is $333.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $347.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

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 the consensus estimate of $4.35 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 53.77% and a net margin of 15.71%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. This is an increase from Caterpillar's previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 21st. Caterpillar's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.