Gouws Capital LLC Purchases 1,405 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Gouws Capital LLC boosted its position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,062 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,405 shares during the period. Caterpillar accounts for about 3.5% of Gouws Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Gouws Capital LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $5,101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Caterpillar in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CAT. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target 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. dropped their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised shares of Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wedbush raised shares of Caterpillar to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $355.00 to $385.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Caterpillar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $383.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,173,226.38. This trade represents a 18.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gerald Johnson acquired 100 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $365.57 per share, with a total value of $36,557.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,116,085.21. This represents a 3.39 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Caterpillar Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Caterpillar stock opened at $326.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.12. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52-week low of $307.05 and a 52-week high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $364.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $372.98.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.17. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st were issued a $1.41 dividend. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is currently 25.56%.

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.