Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Shares Acquired by Smith Thornton Advisors LLC

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 50.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 896 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $325,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 1,619.8% in the fourth quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,030 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,992,000 after purchasing an additional 20,749 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders increased its holdings in Caterpillar by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 1,475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $535,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. ERn Financial LLC raised its position in Caterpillar by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 24.0% during the 4th quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the period. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 155.0% in the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $584,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CAT shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Caterpillar from $460.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $349.00 to $332.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $381.67.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other news, Director Gerald Johnson bought 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $398.57 per share, for a total transaction of $39,857.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,176,977.21. This trade represents a 3.51 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.84, for a total transaction of $1,009,229.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,906,356.84. This represents a 17.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,868 shares of company stock worth $9,679,489 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CAT opened at $374.81 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $380.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $366.26. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1 year low of $276.94 and a 1 year high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.96 billion, a PE ratio of 17.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.13.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $16.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. Caterpillar’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a $1.41 dividend. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.15%.

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.