Banco Santander S.A. Purchases 19,942 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Banco Santander S.A. grew its position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,707 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 19,942 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $35,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Caterpillar in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the second quarter worth $28,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Caterpillar during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Caterpillar by 2,160.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 113 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CAT shares. Barclays lifted their target price on Caterpillar from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Caterpillar from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $365.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Caterpillar from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $349.00 to $332.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com cut Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $376.00 to $434.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $365.33.

Caterpillar Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE CAT opened at $384.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.40. Caterpillar Inc. has a one year low of $241.81 and a one year high of $418.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $384.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $355.22. The firm has a market cap of $185.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.10.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $16.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 59.09% and a net margin of 16.26%. Caterpillar’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.52 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were given a $1.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total transaction of $368,788.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $642,332.28. The trade was a 36.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 3,185 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 33,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,750,181.12. The trade was a 8.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,774 shares of company stock worth $8,233,034 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.