Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. Purchases New Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $580,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the second quarter valued at approximately $523,000. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Caterpillar by 24.9% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,670,000 after purchasing an additional 4,589 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Caterpillar by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 45,106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,025,000 after buying an additional 3,211 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 118,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,372,000 after buying an additional 3,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 1.8% during the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 208,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $69,347,000 after acquiring an additional 3,780 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $471.00 to $455.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $349.00 to $332.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $380.60.

Caterpillar Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE:CAT opened at $386.03 on Monday. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52 week low of $277.66 and a 52 week high of $418.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.38 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $380.09 and a 200-day moving average of $367.29.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. The company had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a $1.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

Insider Activity

In other Caterpillar news, insider Lange Bob De sold 12,657 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.25, for a total transaction of $5,192,534.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 71,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,171,646.75. The trade was a 15.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total transaction of $368,788.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $642,332.28. This trade represents a 36.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,868 shares of company stock valued at $13,480,389. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.