Traub Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 36,842.1% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,299,751 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,833,836,000 after acquiring an additional 7,279,991 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Caterpillar by 2,723.1% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,414,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $466,430,000 after buying an additional 1,364,183 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Caterpillar in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $391,788,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 546.6% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 843,093 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $327,297,000 after acquiring an additional 712,711 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 9.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,229,080 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,064,951,000 after acquiring an additional 268,300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CAT shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $476.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Hsbc Global Res raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $570.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $506.00 to $581.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $600.94.

Caterpillar Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Caterpillar stock opened at $546.75 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $431.86. The stock has a market cap of $255.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.07, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.51. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12-month low of $267.30 and a 12-month high of $596.21.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $4.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $17.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.72 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 14.34% and a return on equity of 47.16%. Caterpillar’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 8,184 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.18, for a total value of $4,666,353.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,669,312.16. This represents a 16.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $572.22, for a total transaction of $686,664.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $757,047.06. This represents a 47.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 86,229 shares of company stock valued at $43,323,118 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.33% 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.