Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 693 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 21,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 693 shares during the period. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $7,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 42.9% during the 3rd quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 334.8% during the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 130.0% during the 4th quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 115 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In other news, Director Gerald Johnson purchased 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $398.57 per share, with a total value of $39,857.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,176,977.21. This trade represents a 3.51 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 6,279 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.59, for a total transaction of $2,565,536.61. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,714,323.35. This represents a 15.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,704 shares of company stock valued at $7,226,584 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CAT. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $355.00 to $385.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $365.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $452.00 to $414.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $383.80.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of Caterpillar stock opened at $339.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.42. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $368.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $372.40. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $307.05 and a twelve month high of $418.50. The firm has a market cap of $162.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.12.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.17. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. As a group, research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st were given a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.56%.

Caterpillar Company 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.