Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Purchases 2,105 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 120.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,105 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CAT. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. bought a new position in Caterpillar during the first quarter worth $405,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Caterpillar during the first quarter worth $604,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Caterpillar during the first quarter worth $97,042,000. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA boosted its position in Caterpillar by 11.8% during the first quarter. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA now owns 7,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,698,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the period. Finally, FSA Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Caterpillar by 8.9% during the first quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. now owns 1,260 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Caterpillar from $445.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI downgraded Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $365.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Caterpillar from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $365.33.

Caterpillar Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE CAT opened at $403.65 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $194.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.71, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.10. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $246.01 and a 12 month high of $418.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $390.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $357.08.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.33 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $16.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.52 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 26.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gerald Johnson purchased 100 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $338.59 per share, for a total transaction of $33,859.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $962,272.78. This trade represents a 3.65 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 3,185 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.36, for a total value of $1,119,081.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,750,181.12. This trade represents a 8.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,774 shares of company stock valued at $8,233,034. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.