Sax Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 272 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Sax Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,206 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 272 shares during the quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $800,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 635,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,686,000 after purchasing an additional 10,212 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 116,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,591,000 after buying an additional 6,212 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 13,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,437,000 after buying an additional 4,181 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the third quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 25.8% during the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 8,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $349.00 to $332.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $380.60.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CAT opened at $386.03 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $380.09 and a 200 day moving average of $367.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market cap of $186.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.13. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $277.66 and a 12 month high of $418.50.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.33 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.15%.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In related news, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.84, for a total value of $1,009,229.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,906,356.84. This represents a 17.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total value of $368,788.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,332.28. This trade represents a 36.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,868 shares of company stock valued at $13,480,389. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.