Chico Wealth RIA Decreases Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Chico Wealth RIA lowered its position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 18.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 749 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 166 shares during the quarter. Caterpillar accounts for approximately 0.2% of Chico Wealth RIA’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Chico Wealth RIA’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Effects LLC increased its position in Caterpillar by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Effects LLC now owns 2,961 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,074,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 8,063 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,491 shares during the last quarter. MBE Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Caterpillar by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. MBE Wealth Management LLC now owns 717 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 80.8% in the 4th quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 665 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CAT shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Caterpillar from $471.00 to $455.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Caterpillar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $380.60.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of CAT stock opened at $394.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $381.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $369.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.13. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $297.45 and a 12 month high of $418.50.

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

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total transaction of $368,788.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,686 shares in the company, valued at $642,332.28. The trade was a 36.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.09, for a total transaction of $3,800,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,173,226.38. This trade represents a 18.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

About Caterpillar

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.