Northside Capital Management LLC Increases Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Northside Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 50.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,053 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the period. Northside Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $382,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Caterpillar by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 635,750 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $231,686,000 after buying an additional 10,212 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Caterpillar by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 116,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,591,000 after acquiring an additional 6,212 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 43.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,181 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network bought a new stake in Caterpillar during the third quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in Caterpillar by 25.8% in the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 8,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after purchasing 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

CAT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $380.60.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In related news, Director Daniel M. Dickinson sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $418.00, for a total transaction of $543,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,079,968. This represents a 20.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of Caterpillar 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,906,356.84. This represents a 17.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,868 shares of company stock worth $9,679,489 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of CAT opened at $374.81 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $380.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $366.26. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12-month low of $276.94 and a 12-month high of $418.50. 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 firm has a market cap of $180.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.13.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $16.11 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.52 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar’s 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.