Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Insider Sells $815,517.00 in Stock

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 2,923 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.00, for a total transaction of $815,517.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,514,778. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Caterpillar stock traded down $1.20 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $281.13. The stock had a trading volume of 2,576,912 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,140,432. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $263.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.07. The company has a market capitalization of $143.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.13. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.60 and a 52-week high of $293.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $5.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.57 by $0.98. The company had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.46 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 12.91% and a return on equity of 55.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.18 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.81 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 20th were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. This is an increase from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 19th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CAT. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $266.00 to $282.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $240.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $279.00 to $334.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Caterpillar from $288.00 to $263.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $283.00 to $323.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $267.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Caterpillar by 130,632.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,784,017 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,343,859,000 after purchasing an additional 9,776,533 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in Caterpillar by 98,763.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 8,679,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,135,519,000 after purchasing an additional 8,670,430 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Caterpillar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,175,255,000. Gateway Advisory LLC bought a new position in Caterpillar in the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,004,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in Caterpillar in the 1st quarter worth approximately $433,134,000. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Caterpillar

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.