Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Purchases 206 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 206 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $6,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BXM Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 5.2% in the second quarter. BXM Wealth LLC now owns 874 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,801 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,252,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 5,677 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,204,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC now owns 797 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SilverOak Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Caterpillar during the 2nd quarter valued at $289,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In related news, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total value of $902,649.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,605,586.40. The trade was a 20.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,168 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.87, for a total value of $7,088,152.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 482,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,211,839.35. This trade represents a 3.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,985 shares of company stock valued at $25,559,300 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Down 2.5%

CAT opened at $527.41 on Friday. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.30 and a fifty-two week high of $544.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $247.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $453.38 and a 200-day moving average of $390.54.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.88 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $16.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.14 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 14.95% and a return on equity of 48.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a $1.51 dividend. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 30.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CAT shares. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Caterpillar from $480.00 to $513.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Caterpillar from $447.00 to $502.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Caterpillar from $495.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Melius Research raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.60.

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.