Bensler LLC Sells 93 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Bensler LLC lessened its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,937 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 93 shares during the period. Bensler LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $703,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 635,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $231,686,000 after acquiring an additional 10,212 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 5.6% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 116,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,591,000 after acquiring an additional 6,212 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 43.0% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 13,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,437,000 after acquiring an additional 4,181 shares during the period. West Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth about $230,000. Finally, Cadinha & Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth about $11,084,000. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total value of $368,788.64. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $642,332.28. This trade represents a 36.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $378.84, for a total value of $1,009,229.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,951 shares in the company, valued at $4,906,356.84. This represents a 17.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,868 shares of company stock valued at $13,480,389 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI raised Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com lowered Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Caterpillar from $460.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $349.00 to $332.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $384.60.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of CAT stock opened at $390.68 on Tuesday. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52-week low of $297.45 and a 52-week high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $381.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $369.79.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $16.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.15%.

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.