First Merchants Corp Has $5.32 Million Stock Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

First Merchants Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,660 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $5,318,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised 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 buying an additional 2,131,276 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 4,018.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 36,168.5% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 227,041 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $82,361,000 after acquiring an additional 226,415 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,952,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,501,554,000 after purchasing an additional 205,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in Caterpillar by 34.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 200,210 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CAT. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $452.00 to $414.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group raised Caterpillar from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $355.00 to $385.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Caterpillar from $455.00 to $438.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $383.13.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In related news, Director Gerald Johnson purchased 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $365.57 per share, for a total transaction of $36,557.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,116,085.21. The trade was a 3.39 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 6,279 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.59, for a total value of $2,565,536.61. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,714,323.35. The trade was a 15.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of CAT stock opened at $353.97 on Friday. Caterpillar Inc. has a one year low of $307.05 and a one year high of $418.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $374.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $371.81. The stock has a market cap of $170.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.12.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.17. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.65% and a return on equity of 58.18%. Analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 20.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid 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 1.59%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.56%.

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.