Operose Advisors LLC Has $646,000 Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Operose Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,780 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 127 shares during the period. Operose Advisors LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $646,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CAT. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 588 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 13,852 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,025,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc. increased its stake in Caterpillar by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 1,736 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $630,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at $429,000. Finally, Charis Legacy Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter valued at about $606,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on CAT shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Caterpillar from $350.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Caterpillar from $490.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Wedbush upgraded shares of Caterpillar to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $438.00 to $389.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $365.87.

Caterpillar Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of CAT opened at $298.07 on Tuesday. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $418.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $332.75 and a 200 day moving average of $366.35. The firm has a market cap of $142.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.21. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is presently 25.56%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gerald Johnson purchased 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased 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 $1,116,085.21. This trade represents a 3.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,173,226.38. This represents a 18.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.