AXS Investments LLC Cuts Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

AXS Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 3.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,674 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 85 shares during the quarter. AXS Investments LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CAT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Caterpillar by 130,632.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,784,017 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,343,859,000 after buying an additional 9,776,533 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,175,255,000. Gateway Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Caterpillar in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,004,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in Caterpillar in the first quarter valued at approximately $433,134,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Caterpillar by 22.1% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,665,888 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,296,582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024,083 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, insider Lange Bob De sold 20,000 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $5,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 53,671 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,759,525. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Lange Bob De sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $5,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 53,671 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,759,525. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph E. Creed sold 7,286 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.25, for a total transaction of $2,078,331.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,918 shares of company stock valued at $15,299,870. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on CAT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $240.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 25th. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Wednesday, June 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $263.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $274.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $267.00.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of Caterpillar stock traded up $5.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $286.25. 2,336,591 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,135,652. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.33. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $265.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $239.62. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.60 and a 52-week high of $293.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.81, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 20th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 19th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is presently 32.36%.

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.