Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Reduces Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 9.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,536 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,840 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $4,013,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Herold Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Caterpillar by 4.1% in the first quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. now owns 1,304 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. BerganKDV Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 29.3% in the 1st quarter. BerganKDV Wealth Management LLC now owns 618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its position in Caterpillar by 11.3% in the first quarter. abrdn plc now owns 348,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $79,754,000 after buying an additional 35,488 shares during the last quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 106.8% in the 1st quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,147 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $720,000 after acquiring an additional 1,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 34.8% in the 1st quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,393 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 2,923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.00, for a total value of $815,517.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 16,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,514,778. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Caterpillar news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 2,923 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.00, for a total value of $815,517.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 16,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,514,778. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 6,415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $1,667,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,254,120. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,918 shares of company stock worth $15,299,870. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CAT. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Caterpillar from $183.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 25th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $287.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $279.00 to $334.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Caterpillar from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.00.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of Caterpillar stock traded down $1.89 on Tuesday, reaching $284.36. The stock had a trading volume of 859,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,121,738. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.60 and a fifty-two week high of $293.88. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $266.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $239.81. 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 stock has a market cap of $145.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $5.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 55.93% and a net margin of 12.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.18 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.82 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 20th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 19th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is a positive change from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.