Compass Capital Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 30,485 Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Compass Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 30,485 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,835,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CAT. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Caterpillar during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Compass Financial Services Inc increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 49.2% during the 1st quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc now owns 94 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Caterpillar during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Caterpillar in the second quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. purchased a new position in Caterpillar during the second quarter worth $38,000. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $572.22, for a total transaction of $686,664.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $757,047.06. This trade represents a 47.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.29, for a total value of $8,673,808.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 448,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,457,335.17. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 69,662 shares of company stock valued at $33,575,140 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CAT. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $570.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $650.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank raised Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $476.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Caterpillar from $485.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Caterpillar currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $596.59.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

CAT stock opened at $562.82 on Monday. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1-year low of $267.30 and a 1-year high of $596.21. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $491.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $419.59. The company has a market capitalization of $263.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.89, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $4.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.43. Caterpillar had a net margin of 14.34% and a return on equity of 47.16%. The business had revenue of $17.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.17 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a $1.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 31.01%.

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.