Golden State Equity Partners Purchases 370 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Golden State Equity Partners lifted its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,307 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Caterpillar were worth $682,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 1.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,962,809 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,900,847,000 after purchasing an additional 111,384 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 0.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,830,849 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,864,823,000 after purchasing an additional 47,258 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,038,207 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,648,431,000 after acquiring an additional 781,111 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar by 28,603.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,494,018 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,417,360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,488,813 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399,888 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $382,168,000 after acquiring an additional 71,344 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.10, for a total transaction of $3,101,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,774,001.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.10, for a total transaction of $3,101,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,774,001.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 21,194 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.52, for a total value of $6,899,070.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 61,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,886,667.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,769 shares of company stock valued at $11,508,906 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CAT traded up $5.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $343.38. 3,324,630 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,414,735. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $204.04 and a twelve month high of $382.01. The company has a market cap of $171.48 billion, a PE ratio of 15.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $350.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $300.80.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.07 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 58.61% and a net margin of 16.79%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CAT. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Caterpillar from $210.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $293.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Caterpillar in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $270.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Caterpillar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $310.83.

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.