JB Capital LLC Sells 85 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

JB Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 922 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 85 shares during the quarter. JB Capital LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Caterpillar in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Albion Financial Group UT increased its stake in Caterpillar by 334.8% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar by 42.9% in the third quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its stake in Caterpillar by 130.0% in the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 115 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, Director Daniel M. Dickinson sold 1,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $418.00, for a total transaction of $543,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,079,968. The trade was a 20.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 6,279 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.59, for a total value of $2,565,536.61. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,714,323.35. This trade represents a 15.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,236 shares of company stock valued at $12,102,371 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on CAT. UBS Group raised shares of Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $355.00 to $385.00 in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $381.00.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of CAT opened at $361.62 on Tuesday. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $307.05 and a 12 month high of $418.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $380.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $371.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.45 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.56%.

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.