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

AXS Investments LLC decreased its holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 5.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,523 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 151 shares during the quarter. AXS Investments LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 9,776,533 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 98,763.3% during the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 8,679,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,135,519,000 after purchasing an additional 8,670,430 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Caterpillar during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,175,255,000. Gateway Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Caterpillar during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,004,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new position in Caterpillar during the first quarter valued at approximately $433,134,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CAT shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $287.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $315.00 to $274.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 1st. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $279.00 to $334.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 16th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $282.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Caterpillar

In other 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 transaction of $815,517.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,514,778. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Trading Up 2.0 %

CAT stock opened at $253.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $204.04 and a twelve month high of $293.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $259.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $252.52.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $5.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.75 by $0.77. Caterpillar had a net margin of 13.69% and a return on equity of 56.29%. The business had revenue of $16.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 20.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 23rd will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.46%.

Caterpillar Company Profile

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.