Sound Income Strategies LLC Has $307,000 Position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)

Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT – Get Rating) by 86.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,282 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Caterpillar were worth $307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Caterpillar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Cowa LLC bought a new position in Caterpillar during the third quarter worth $33,000. Alpha Paradigm Partners LLC acquired a new position in Caterpillar in the second quarter valued at $40,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Caterpillar during the third quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Caterpillar during the 2nd quarter worth about $62,000. 68.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Caterpillar

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $249.29 per share, with a total value of $99,716.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $924,616.61. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $249.29 per share, for a total transaction of $99,716.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $924,616.61. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 23,883 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.44, for a total transaction of $5,981,258.52. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,470,347.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 90,984 shares of company stock worth $22,519,893 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CAT shares. Credit Suisse Group upped their target price on Caterpillar from $290.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Caterpillar to $250.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 19th. Finally, Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $240.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Caterpillar presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $241.00.

Caterpillar Price Performance

CAT stock opened at $215.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $111.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.11. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.60 and a 52-week high of $266.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $246.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $222.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.95 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $16.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.84 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 45.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. Research analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 15.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caterpillar Profile

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Caterpillar, Inc engages in the manufacture of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. It operates through the following segments: Construction Industries, Resource Industries, Energy and Transportation, Financial Products, and All Other.