Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 3,607 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,067,000. Caterpillar accounts for approximately 1.0% of Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Waterway Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $352,000. Farmers Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 4,490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,328,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Caterpillar by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Caterpillar by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,310,000 after purchasing an additional 3,558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 16.7% in the third quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 367,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $100,370,000 after purchasing an additional 52,576 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $338.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Caterpillar in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $390.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Caterpillar from $210.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Caterpillar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $290.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.35.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

CAT traded down $0.50 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $344.50. The stock had a trading volume of 2,250,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,500,179. Caterpillar Inc. has a one year low of $205.60 and a one year high of $382.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $168.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $352.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $304.94.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $5.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.48. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.79% and a return on equity of 58.61%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.07 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.79 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 23.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Caterpillar news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 4,575 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.80, for a total value of $1,508,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,741,725.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $337.39 per share, with a total value of $168,695.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,935,943.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 4,575 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.80, for a total transaction of $1,508,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,741,725.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Caterpillar Company Profile

Caterpillar Inc manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives in worldwide. Its Construction Industries segment offers asphalt pavers, compactors, road reclaimers, forestry machines, cold planers, material handlers, track-type tractors, excavators, telehandlers, motor graders, and pipelayers; compact track, wheel, track-type, backhoe, and skid steer loaders; and related parts and tools.