Sunbelt Securities Inc. Buys 713 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) by 19.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,421 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 713 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on CAT shares. Oppenheimer upgraded Caterpillar from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $395.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Baird R W upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $395.00 to $422.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. UBS Group raised Caterpillar from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $272.00 to $357.00 in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Caterpillar from $396.00 to $414.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Six 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.83.

Caterpillar Price Performance

CAT stock traded up $3.30 on Friday, reaching $385.18. The company had a trading volume of 4,445,249 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,521,036. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1 year low of $267.30 and a 1 year high of $418.50. The company has a market cap of $181.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.72, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.37. The company's fifty day moving average is $342.13 and its 200 day moving average is $346.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) last released 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). Caterpillar had a net margin of 15.71% and a return on equity of 53.77%. The business had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.60 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be given a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is a positive change from Caterpillar's previous quarterly dividend of $1.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. Caterpillar's payout ratio is presently 27.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, Director David Maclennan purchased 375 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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.