KFA Private Wealth Group LLC Sells 61 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

KFA Private Wealth Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,155 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 61 shares during the quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GSB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Caterpillar by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. GSB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $832,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Verum Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 2.5% in the second quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors now owns 3,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 4,683 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,818,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,216 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on CAT. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $480.00 to $513.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Caterpillar from $495.00 to $517.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $475.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $478.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Susan C. Schwab sold 2,324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.00, for a total transaction of $952,840.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,835,970. This represents a 25.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,168 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.87, for a total transaction of $7,088,152.16. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 482,505 shares in the company, valued at $199,211,839.35. This represents a 3.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,819 shares of company stock valued at $16,885,492 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of Caterpillar stock opened at $491.67 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $230.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $443.23 and its 200 day moving average is $383.88. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1 year low of $267.30 and a 1 year high of $511.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.88 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $16.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.14 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 48.95% and a net margin of 14.95%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.72%.

Caterpillar 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.