Naviter Wealth LLC Trims Stake in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Naviter Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 2.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,370 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 207 shares during the quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $3,249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Trivium Point Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 132.9% in the second quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 1,926 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 1,099 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 9.9% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 78,947 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,037,000 after buying an additional 7,125 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 11.2% in the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 14,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,557,000 after buying an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the first quarter valued at $427,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 0.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,304,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,089,798,000 after buying an additional 15,347 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $495.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Melius Research raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $507.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $450.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $540.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $488.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,168 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.87, for a total transaction of $7,088,152.16. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 482,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,211,839.35. The trade was a 3.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total value of $902,649.70. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,605,586.40. This trade represents a 20.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,819 shares of company stock valued at $16,885,492 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NYSE CAT opened at $505.11 on Tuesday. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1 year low of $267.30 and a 1 year high of $511.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $236.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a 50-day moving average of $444.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $385.71.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.88 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $16.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.14 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 48.95% and a net margin of 14.95%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.99 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be given a dividend of $1.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 30.72%.

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.