Caterpillar Inc. $CAT Shares Bought by Delta Financial Advisors LLC

Delta Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 49.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,142 shares during the period. Delta Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,975,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,385,185 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,572,681,000 after buying an additional 442,164 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Caterpillar by 3,949.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,228,058 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,494,568,000 after acquiring an additional 5,098,964 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Caterpillar by 20.7% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,553,930 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,695,757,000 after acquiring an additional 609,023 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Caterpillar by 2.2% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,802,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,337,007,000 after acquiring an additional 58,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in Caterpillar by 24.3% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 2,375,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,176,870,000 after purchasing an additional 464,036 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Caterpillar

Here are the key news stories impacting Caterpillar this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Caterpillar’s Power & Energy business is being highlighted as a major growth opportunity, with rising backlog, capacity expansion, and demand from AI data centers supporting the company’s longer-term targets. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Separate coverage is reinforcing Caterpillar as a “power infrastructure play,” helped by a strategic framework agreement tied to up to 2.1 gigawatts of incremental power-generation assets, which suggests additional demand beyond its core construction and mining equipment businesses. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Caterpillar was also mentioned among the stocks helping drive a strong Dow rally, indicating broader investor demand for the name during today’s market advance. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Caterpillar was included in a hedge-fund stock screen, which may reflect institutional interest, but the item did not add a clear new catalyst by itself. Article Title

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of Caterpillar stock opened at $880.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $405.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business has a 50-day moving average of $791.73 and a 200 day moving average of $690.84. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $336.24 and a 12 month high of $931.35.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.65 by $0.89. The company had revenue of $17.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.53 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 13.33% and a return on equity of 48.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.25 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 24.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Investors of record on Monday, April 20th were paid a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 20th. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Caterpillar from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $769.00 to $879.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $825.00 price objective on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $923.14.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 15,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $918.71, for a total value of $14,399,860.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 52,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,631,913.85. This trade represents a 22.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Denise C. Johnson sold 12,605 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $907.91, for a total transaction of $11,444,205.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 49,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,236,615.75. This trade represents a 20.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 100,551 shares of company stock worth $91,170,351 over the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Caterpillar Profile

Caterpillar Inc is a global manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and locomotives. The company’s product portfolio includes earthmoving machines such as excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders and off‑highway trucks, as well as a range of power generation products including generator sets and power systems for industrial and commercial use. Caterpillar serves customers across heavy construction, mining, energy, transportation and related industries with both equipment and integrated technology solutions.

In addition to manufacturing, Caterpillar provides a broad range of aftermarket parts and support services, including maintenance, repair, remanufacturing and fleet management tools.