Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC Purchases 30 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC raised its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CAT. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Caterpillar by 39,534.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,136,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,356,930,000 after purchasing an additional 2,131,276 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 4,018.6% in the third quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 255,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $99,874,000 after acquiring an additional 249,155 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 2.3% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,952,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,501,554,000 after acquiring an additional 205,012 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 34.4% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 782,133 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $305,908,000 after acquiring an additional 200,210 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 106.2% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 317,828 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $124,309,000 after acquiring an additional 163,725 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Caterpillar news, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.84, for a total transaction of $1,009,229.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,906,356.84. The trade was a 17.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total value of $368,788.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares in the company, valued at $642,332.28. The trade was a 36.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,868 shares of company stock worth $13,480,389 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on CAT. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $295.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Three research 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, Caterpillar has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $384.60.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

CAT stock opened at $390.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $188.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.13. Caterpillar Inc. has a 1 year low of $297.45 and a 1 year high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $381.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $370.23.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. The firm had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a $1.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 26.15%.

About Caterpillar

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.