Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 10,933 Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 10,933 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $3,606,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CAT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,809,540 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $16,980,629,000 after acquiring an additional 284,366 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Caterpillar by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,449,770 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,790,841,000 after purchasing an additional 236,315 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Caterpillar by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,081,775 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,294,505,000 after purchasing an additional 129,143 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Caterpillar by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,847,330 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,483,937,000 after purchasing an additional 724,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at $2,184,364,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 375 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares in the company, valued at $2,133,617.10. This represents a 5.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Caterpillar from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Oppenheimer raised Caterpillar from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $395.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group raised Caterpillar from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $272.00 to $357.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Caterpillar from $490.00 to $380.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.92.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

CAT stock traded up $0.63 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $358.70. 1,892,107 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,592,933. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $322.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $349.19. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52 week low of $267.30 and a 52 week high of $418.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.37.

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 company had revenue of $14.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. 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 company posted $5.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, April 21st were issued a $1.41 dividend. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 21st. Caterpillar's payout ratio is currently 27.49%.

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.