Signal Advisors Wealth LLC Trims Stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Signal Advisors Wealth LLC trimmed its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,249 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 85 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 0.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar by 2.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in 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 worth $3,294,505,000 after buying an additional 129,143 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Caterpillar by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,847,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,483,937,000 after purchasing an additional 724,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter worth about $2,184,364,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, Director David Maclennan bought 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $320.70 per share, for a total transaction of $120,262.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,133,617.10. This represents a 5.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded Caterpillar from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $309.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $395.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $335.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $490.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $396.00 price objective (up previously from $389.00) on shares of Caterpillar in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $372.92.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CAT opened at $353.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.37. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52 week low of $267.30 and a 52 week high of $418.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $320.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $349.91.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $4.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.35 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $14.25 billion during 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 was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.60 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

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

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.