RiverFront Investment Group LLC Decreases Stock Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

RiverFront Investment Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 312 shares during the quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $1,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DnB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 1,536 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Slagle Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 6,858 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,488,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the fourth quarter valued at $390,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 297,376 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,876,000 after purchasing an additional 31,268 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Caterpillar by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 302,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $109,898,000 after purchasing an additional 16,944 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CAT shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America reduced their target price on Caterpillar from $452.00 to $414.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush raised Caterpillar to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $365.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $383.80.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of Caterpillar stock opened at $329.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Caterpillar Inc. has a one year low of $307.05 and a one year high of $418.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $354.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $371.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 45,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,173,226.38. This represents a 18.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,425 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.70, for a total value of $860,147.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,275 shares in the company, valued at $2,225,742.50. This trade represents a 27.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.