Sax Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Sax Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,206 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 272 shares during the period. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 635,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,686,000 after purchasing an additional 10,212 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its position in Caterpillar by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 116,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,591,000 after buying an additional 6,212 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in Caterpillar by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 13,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,437,000 after acquiring an additional 4,181 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the third quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 25.8% during the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 8,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CAT. Bank of America boosted their price target on Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI raised Caterpillar from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $365.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $471.00 to $455.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $460.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $380.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total transaction of $368,788.64. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $642,332.28. The trade was a 36.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.84, for a total value of $1,009,229.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,906,356.84. The trade was a 17.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,868 shares of company stock valued at $13,480,389. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CAT opened at $386.03 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $380.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $367.03. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52-week low of $277.66 and a 52-week high of $418.50. The company has a market cap of $186.38 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

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

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $1.41 dividend. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio 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.