AXQ Capital LP Raises Stock Position in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

AXQ Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 55.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,560 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the quarter. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CAT. Trivium Point Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Caterpillar by 132.9% in the second quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 1,926 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 9.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 78,947 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,037,000 after buying an additional 7,125 shares during the last quarter. Palmer Knight Co acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,884,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 14,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,440 shares during the period. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new stake in Caterpillar in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $427,000. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Caterpillar Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CAT opened at $550.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $257.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.51. Caterpillar Inc. has a twelve month low of $267.30 and a twelve month high of $596.21. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $518.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $435.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $4.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.43. Caterpillar had a net margin of 14.34% and a return on equity of 47.16%. The business had revenue of $17.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.17 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th were issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 20th. This represents a $6.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is 31.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CAT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $650.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Caterpillar from $476.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $729.00 target price (up from $582.00) on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Caterpillar from $485.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $610.32.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other Caterpillar news, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,168 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.87, for a total value of $7,088,152.16. Following the sale, the chairman owned 482,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,211,839.35. This trade represents a 3.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Lange Bob De sold 14,638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.36, for a total value of $8,231,825.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 80,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,106,333.24. This represents a 15.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 86,229 shares of company stock worth $43,323,118 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.