Caterpillar Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:CAT)

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 82,925 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 230% compared to the typical volume of 25,118 call options.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 4,575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.80, for a total transaction of $1,508,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,725.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 4,575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.80, for a total transaction of $1,508,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,725.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.10, for a total value of $3,101,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,774,001.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 45,769 shares of company stock worth $14,509,306. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Caterpillar

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,580,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 17.3% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 65,643 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,634,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the first quarter valued at approximately $405,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 6.8% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,592 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Caterpillar by 4.4% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 49,705 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,075,000 after acquiring an additional 2,076 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CAT shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Caterpillar from $290.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Evercore ISI lowered Caterpillar from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $338.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Caterpillar in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $390.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $255.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Caterpillar from $385.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.56.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of CAT stock traded down $0.39 during trading on Thursday, reaching $357.93. 1,919,696 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,422,963. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $345.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $296.78. Caterpillar has a twelve month low of $204.04 and a twelve month high of $382.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.75 billion, a PE ratio of 17.79, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.17.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $5.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.76 by $0.47. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 56.99% and a net margin of 15.41%. The company had revenue of $17.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.86 EPS. Caterpillar’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar will post 21.33 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.82%.

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.