Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Raises Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 229,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,873 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $83,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC purchased a new stake in Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Trading Up 10.0 %

Shares of CAT stock opened at $301.43 on Thursday. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $418.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.66, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $336.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $368.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, April 21st will be issued a $1.41 dividend. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Caterpillar from $365.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Caterpillar from $350.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $355.00 to $385.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $373.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.