Ibex Wealth Advisors Boosts Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Ibex Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 894.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,961 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,959 shares during the period. Ibex Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Caterpillar were worth $3,613,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position 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 buying an additional 10,212 shares during the last quarter. West Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter worth approximately $230,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 5.6% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 116,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,591,000 after acquiring an additional 6,212 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in Caterpillar by 43.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cadinha & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in Caterpillar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,084,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,906,356.84. This represents a 17.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.09, for a total value of $3,800,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,173,226.38. This represents a 18.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,868 shares of company stock valued at $13,480,389 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

NYSE:CAT traded up $7.30 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $397.59. The stock had a trading volume of 213,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,066,064. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1-year low of $299.93 and a 1-year high of $418.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $381.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $370.23.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.33 by ($0.16). Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. The company had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is 26.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Caterpillar from $471.00 to $455.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $295.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $349.00 to $332.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $384.60.

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.