Continental Investors Services Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Continental Investors Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT – Get Rating) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,856 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in Caterpillar by 1.5% during the third quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $550,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in Caterpillar by 31.8% during the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 11,799 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares in the last quarter. Cladis Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in Caterpillar by 3.5% during the third quarter. Cladis Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,483 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $736,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co raised its stake in Caterpillar by 2.0% in the third quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 35,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,822,000 after buying an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Caterpillar by 17.0% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,201,884 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $197,205,000 after buying an additional 174,361 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.02% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Stock Down 1.7 %

Caterpillar stock opened at $215.01 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $111.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.11. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.60 and a 52 week high of $266.04. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $246.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $222.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.95 by ($0.09). Caterpillar had a return on equity of 45.61% and a net margin of 11.28%. The company had revenue of $16.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 15.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CAT shares. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Caterpillar from $174.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. Robert W. Baird cut Caterpillar from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $290.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Bank of America upgraded Caterpillar from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $217.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Friday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Caterpillar to $250.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $241.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $249.29 per share, with a total value of $99,716.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,709 shares in the company, valued at $924,616.61. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Caterpillar news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $249.29 per share, with a total value of $99,716.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,709 shares in the company, valued at $924,616.61. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Denise C. Johnson sold 23,737 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.14, for a total value of $5,700,203.18. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,605 shares in the company, valued at $2,066,404.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 90,984 shares of company stock valued at $22,519,893. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

About Caterpillar

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Caterpillar, Inc engages in the manufacture of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. It operates through the following segments: Construction Industries, Resource Industries, Energy and Transportation, Financial Products, and All Other.