Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC Invests $657,000 in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $657,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth approximately $353,231,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 50,072.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 804,770 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $291,938,000 after acquiring an additional 803,166 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,166,087 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $782,109,000 after acquiring an additional 318,891 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 4,018.6% in the third quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 255,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $99,874,000 after acquiring an additional 249,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 36,168.5% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 227,041 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $82,361,000 after acquiring an additional 226,415 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CAT shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised shares of Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised shares of Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $355.00 to $385.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $383.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gerald Johnson acquired 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $365.57 per share, for a total transaction of $36,557.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,116,085.21. This represents a 3.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.09, for a total value of $3,800,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 45,182 shares in the company, valued at $17,173,226.38. This represents a 18.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of CAT opened at $350.97 on Monday. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1 year low of $307.05 and a 1 year high of $418.50. The company has a market cap of $167.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $363.11 and a 200-day moving average of $372.98.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.17. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st were issued a $1.41 dividend. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is currently 25.56%.

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.