Patten Group Inc. Purchases 163 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Patten Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 8.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,006 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $779,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 0.3% in the second quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 9,042 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,510,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 0.5% in the second quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,954 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,923,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. GSB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 1.2% in the second 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 period. Verum Partners LLC lifted its stake in Caterpillar by 2.5% in the second quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors lifted its stake 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 worth $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $447.00 to $502.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $450.00 to $506.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $517.00 to $594.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $331.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $518.19.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other news, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,161 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.70, for a total transaction of $902,649.70. Following the sale, the insider owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,605,586.40. This trade represents a 20.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.29, for a total transaction of $8,673,808.14. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 448,173 shares in the company, valued at $226,457,335.17. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,985 shares of company stock valued at $25,559,300 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

CAT opened at $513.70 on Thursday. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12-month low of $267.30 and a 12-month high of $544.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $240.66 billion, a PE ratio of 26.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $460.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $394.97.

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

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

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