Merit Financial Group LLC Has $7.32 Million Stock Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) by 30.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,178 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,737 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Caterpillar were worth $7,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Caterpillar during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Caterpillar during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC lifted its position in shares of Caterpillar by 42.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in Caterpillar in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its position in Caterpillar by 47.2% during the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 156 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CAT. 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Caterpillar from an "underperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $365.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Caterpillar from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $349.00 to $332.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Caterpillar from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $380.60.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Caterpillar stock traded up $5.48 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $386.03. 2,596,820 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,595,788. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $277.66 and a 12 month high of $418.50. The firm has a market cap of $186.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.13. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $380.09 and a 200 day moving average of $367.03.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $16.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Caterpillar Inc. will post 21.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Caterpillar Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. Caterpillar's payout ratio is 26.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO William E. Schaupp sold 968 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.98, for a total value of $368,788.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $642,332.28. This trade represents a 36.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 2,664 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $378.84, for a total value of $1,009,229.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,951 shares in the company, valued at $4,906,356.84. This represents a 17.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,868 shares of company stock valued at $13,480,389 in the last three months. Company 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.