Atwood & Palmer Inc. Sells 775 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Atwood & Palmer Inc. cut its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 23.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,565 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 775 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 2.6% during the third quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC now owns 1,037 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. First Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 709 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank lifted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 2,349 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 1,807 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $707,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America upped their price target on Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $380.60.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Caterpillar stock opened at $386.03 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $380.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $367.29. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $277.66 and a 12 month high of $418.50. The company has a market cap of $186.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.13.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.33 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 26.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caterpillar news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,182 shares in the company, valued at $17,173,226.38. The trade was a 18.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 6,279 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.59, for a total value of $2,565,536.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,714,323.35. This represents a 15.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,868 shares of company stock worth $13,480,389 over the last 90 days. Corporate 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.