Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 5,878 Shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Free Report) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 723,776 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 5,878 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of Caterpillar worth $262,557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Caterpillar during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Albion Financial Group UT raised its position in shares of Caterpillar by 334.8% in the 4th quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 100 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC raised 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 during the period. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC raised its position in shares of Caterpillar by 130.0% in the 4th quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 115 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CAT. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Caterpillar from $455.00 to $438.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Caterpillar from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $383.80.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In related news, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.09, for a total value of $3,800,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 45,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,173,226.38. The trade was a 18.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 2,425 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.70, for a total value of $860,147.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,275 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,225,742.50. This trade represents a 27.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,704 shares of company stock valued at $7,226,584. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Caterpillar stock traded down $9.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $339.84. 3,219,133 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,416,826. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $369.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $372.24. Caterpillar Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $307.05 and a fifty-two week high of $418.50. The stock has a market cap of $162.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.17. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 58.18% and a net margin of 16.65%. On average, research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st were issued a dividend of $1.41 per share. This represents a $5.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 21st. Caterpillar's dividend payout ratio 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.