Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Raises Stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,250 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 3,142 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $5,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in Caterpillar by 120.4% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 2,105 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc. raised its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 15.5% during the third quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 3,601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,409,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 4.8% during the third quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,890 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Caterpillar by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,952,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,501,554,000 after buying an additional 205,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Caterpillar by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 144,359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,461,000 after buying an additional 7,602 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Caterpillar news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 3,185 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,750,181.12. The trade was a 8.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gerald Johnson acquired 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $338.59 per share, for a total transaction of $33,859.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $962,272.78. The trade was a 3.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,774 shares of company stock worth $8,233,034 over the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $445.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $349.00 to $332.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $365.33.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CAT opened at $405.65 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $387.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $356.38. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52 week low of $246.01 and a 52 week high of $418.50. The stock has a market cap of $195.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.81, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.10.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly 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). Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. The business had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a $1.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.15%.

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.