Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Has $358,000 Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 16.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,087 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 219 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,809,540 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,980,629,000 after purchasing an additional 284,366 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,449,770 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,790,841,000 after buying an additional 236,315 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,081,775 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,294,505,000 after acquiring an additional 129,143 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,847,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,483,937,000 after acquiring an additional 724,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Caterpillar during the fourth quarter worth about $2,184,364,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $395.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. UBS Group raised shares of Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $272.00 to $357.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $396.00 price objective (up previously from $389.00) on shares of Caterpillar in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $490.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $372.92.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 375 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. The trade was a 5.97% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Caterpillar stock opened at $353.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $166.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $267.30 and a 12 month high of $418.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $320.74 and its 200-day moving average is $349.91.

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

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 21st were given a $1.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 21st. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 27.49%.

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.