First Manhattan CO. LLC. Increases Stock Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. grew its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,328 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Caterpillar from $365.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $452.00 to $414.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $325.00 to $331.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $300.00 to $309.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $370.67.

Caterpillar Price Performance

NYSE:CAT opened at $325.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $153.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.35. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12-month low of $267.30 and a 12-month high of $418.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $316.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $355.18.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $14.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.64 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 58.18% and a net margin of 16.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.60 EPS. Research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.49%.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares in the company, valued at $2,133,617.10. This trade represents a 5.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,425 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.70, for a total value of $860,147.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,275 shares in the company, valued at $2,225,742.50. This trade represents a 27.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.