Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) heads into the final stretch of 2025 trading just below record levels, with the stock changing hands at roughly $576 per share, giving the industrial giant a market value of around $269 billion. [1]
After a powerful rally that has made Caterpillar the top-performing Dow Jones stock this year, investors are spending this weekend digesting a fresh wave of institutional ownership filings, valuation commentary and options activity published on and around November 29, 2025. [2]
This article pulls together the latest November 29 headlines on CAT stock and sets them in context of the company’s AI-driven growth story, tariff headwinds, and Wall Street’s outlook.
Caterpillar (CAT) stock today: price, performance and valuation
As of Friday’s close (November 28), Caterpillar stock sat near $576.76, within striking distance of its 12‑month high around $596 and more than double its 12‑month low near $267. [3] That places CAT firmly in “blue‑chip momentum” territory.
A few key snapshot metrics as of late November:
- Share price: ≈$576–$577
- Market cap: ≈$269.4 billion [4]
- Trailing P/E: roughly 29–30x earnings [5]
- 52‑week range: about $267 to $596 [6]
- Dividend yield: ~1.0%, based on a $6.04 annual payout per share [7]
According to Reuters, Caterpillar shares are up about 60% in 2025, far outpacing the broader industrials sector and putting the stock at the top of the Dow Jones leaderboard. [8]
On the valuation side, several data providers now peg CAT at around 30x trailing earnings, a premium to its own long‑term average but lower than some fast‑growing US large caps. [9] Zacks assigns Caterpillar a Value score of “D”, suggesting the shares trade at a richer valuation than many peers in its coverage universe. [10]
At the same time, Simply Wall St argues that a 29x P/E ratio still looks cheap versus its internal “fair” multiple estimate of 41x, labeling CAT “undervalued” despite the big run. [11] In other words, whether CAT is “expensive” or “still attractive” depends heavily on which benchmark you compare it to.
November 29, 2025: new 13F filings put CAT in the spotlight
The most concrete news actually dated November 29, 2025 comes from a cluster of fresh 13F‑based reports that reveal how major institutions adjusted their Caterpillar positions in the second quarter.
West Family Investments increases its CAT stake
A MarketBeat report shows West Family Investments Inc. boosted its Caterpillar holdings by 30.1% in Q2. The family office now owns 2,162 CAT shares, after adding 500 shares during the period, with the stake valued at roughly $839,000 at quarter‑end. [12]
The same piece highlights that Norges Bank, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, initiated a multi‑billion dollar CAT position of over 5.5 million shares — signaling deep institutional conviction in the long‑term story. [13]
Virtue Capital trims exposure
In another MarketBeat alert, Virtue Capital Management LLC is reported to have cut its CAT position by about 35%, selling 786 shares during Q2 and ending the quarter with 1,440 shares valued near $559,000. [14]
Virtue remains invested but clearly used the strong rally to rebalance its exposure. The same article reiterates that Caterpillar beat Q3 earnings expectations, with EPS of $4.95 vs. $4.52 consensus and revenue of $17.64 billion vs. $16.72 billion, and notes that Wall Street’s consensus rating sits at “Moderate Buy” with an average target near $610. [15]
New York State Common Retirement Fund trims a huge position
A separate November 29 MarketBeat story reveals that the New York State Common Retirement Fund made only a minor trim (‑1.1%) to its already large Caterpillar position. It sold 6,600 shares, leaving it with 586,555 CAT shares, or about 0.13% of the company, worth roughly $227.7 million. [16]
That filing underlines how significant a role large public funds play in CAT’s shareholder base. Across the various Q2 disclosures, institutional investors are estimated to control roughly 71% of Caterpillar’s stock. [17]
Schroder Investment Management also takes profits
A fourth November 29 note shows Schroder Investment Management Group reduced its Caterpillar stake by 6.3% during Q2, selling 39,355 shares and finishing the period with 583,485 shares valued around $226.5 million, or 0.12% of the company. [18]
Importantly, Schroder’s report goes further, summarizing Wall Street’s stance:
- Around 25 analysts cover the stock.
- Ratings skew toward the bullish side: 3 “Strong Buy,” 16 “Buy,” 5 “Hold,” and 1 “Sell.”
- Consensus rating: “Moderate Buy.”
- Average price target: about $610, modestly above the current price. [19]
Taken together, the November 29 batch of filings paints a picture of rebalancing rather than capitulation: some investors are locking in profits, while others — including a major sovereign wealth fund — are still building sizable positions.
Insider selling and ownership trends
The Schroder and New York State Common Retirement Fund pieces also spotlight notable insider selling:
- Executives including Bob De Lange and Anthony Fassino have sold shares in November, trimming their holdings by about 15–16%. [20]
- CAO William Schaupp and power & energy executive Jason Kaiser have also sold shares earlier in the quarter. [21]
Across the last three months, insiders in total have sold roughly 86,229 shares, worth just over $43 million, and company insiders now hold about 0.33% of the stock. [22]
Insider selling at all‑time highs is not unusual for a mature blue chip, but the scale of recent disposals is one factor short‑term traders are watching.
Fresh valuation chatter: is CAT stock now priced for perfection?
On November 29, Yahoo Finance published a piece titled “Assessing Caterpillar (CAT) Valuation After Strong Share Price Run”, focusing on whether the stock’s huge 2025 rally still leaves room for upside. [23]
Although the full article is paywalled or rate‑limited for some readers, its key thrust is clear:
- Caterpillar has posted exceptional share‑price momentum in 2025, with gains of more than 50% year‑to‑date. [24]
- Investors now need to weigh that performance against valuation metrics like P/E and price‑to‑cash‑flow.
Other sources give us a sense of the debate:
- Macrotrends puts CAT’s trailing P/E near 30.1x as of November 29, 2025. [25]
- WallStreetZen shows CAT’s P/E around 29x, lower than an estimated US‑market average multiple but higher than many machinery peers, leading it to classify CAT as good value vs. the market but more expensive vs. its industry. [26]
- Zacks, meanwhile, gives Caterpillar a “D” Value score, flagging that the stock trades at a premium versus its peer group even as its earnings estimates are moving higher. [27]
In short: CAT isn’t a bargain basement cyclical anymore, but many analysts argue the premium is justified by the company’s earnings power and strategic position in AI‑driven infrastructure.
The growth engine behind CAT: AI data centers, energy and tariffs
The reason Caterpillar trades at these richer multiples is tied directly to its recent earnings performance and its role in the AI infrastructure boom.
Q3 2025 results: big beats and bigger energy demand
On October 29, 2025, Caterpillar reported third‑quarter 2025 results that beat Wall Street expectations on both revenue and profit: [28]
- Total sales & revenues: $17.64–$17.64 billion (about 10% growth year‑over‑year).
- Adjusted EPS:$4.95, topping consensus of about $4.52 even though it declined from $5.17 a year earlier.
- Energy & Transportation segment: sales jumped roughly 17% to about $8.4 billion, driven largely by power‑generation equipment for data centers and energy projects.
- Construction Industries: sales grew around 7%, helped by pricing.
- Resource Industries: up roughly 2%.
Reuters highlighted that an AI‑driven boom in power‑hungry data centers is now a major growth engine for Caterpillar, especially through its generators and related equipment. [29]
However, the same report stressed that Caterpillar is facing a rising tariff bill, with management now expecting a 2025 tariff hit of $1.6–1.75 billion, slightly tightening the range from a prior $1.5–1.8 billion estimate. Tariff costs are projected to be more painful in Q4 than they were in Q3. [30]
Vertiv collaboration: doubling down on AI data center power
On November 18, 2025, Caterpillar and Vertiv announced a strategic collaboration to deliver integrated power and cooling “building blocks” for AI data centers. [31]
Key points from that press release:
- The partnership combines Vertiv’s power distribution and cooling gear with Caterpillar’s (and Solar Turbines’) gas turbines and reciprocating engines. [32]
- The goal is to offer pre‑designed, modular architectures that shorten design cycles and deployment times for large data centers.
- The companies claim the solution can lower PUE (power usage effectiveness) and improve carbon efficiency by optimizing power, cooling and load management end‑to‑end. [33]
Vertiv’s CEO described the collaboration as central to a “bring your own power & cooling” strategy, while Caterpillar’s power & energy chief Jason Kaiser framed it as a way to meet surging AI‑driven workloads with scalable, on‑site energy solutions. [34]
For investors, this deepens the narrative of Caterpillar as an AI infrastructure play, not just a classic construction‑cycle stock.
What Wall Street is saying now
Between the institutional filings and recent research notes, a few themes stand out in analyst sentiment:
- Consensus stance: “Moderate Buy,” with most firms rating CAT Buy or Strong Buy, a handful at Hold, and very few outright Sell ratings. [35]
- Average target: Around $610–$642, depending on the source, which implies single‑digit percentage upside versus current levels. [36]
- Target range: Recent research cited by MarketBeat and Benzinga shows targets stretching from the high $500s to well above $700, with JPMorgan reportedly going as high as $730 and several other firms raising targets after the Q3 beat. [37]
Zacks, which focuses heavily on earnings revisions, notes that: [38]
- Current‑year EPS is expected to decline about 16% from last year, largely due to a very strong 2024 comparison and tariff headwinds.
- 2026 EPS (next fiscal year) is projected to rebound roughly 19%, and estimates for both this year and next have been revised higher in the last month.
- That pattern leads to a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), implying the stock may perform roughly in line with the market in the near term.
In other words, fundamentals and analyst estimates are still moving in the right direction, but much of that optimism is arguably already embedded in the share price.
Options market and “smart money” signals
Short‑term traders watching unusual options activity received an eye‑catching update on November 28, in a Benzinga article detailing “whale” trades in Caterpillar options. [39]
Highlights from that report:
- Benzinga’s scanner flagged 23 large, unusual CAT options trades over the recent period — “not normal” for the name.
- Among those trades, about 69% were classified as bearish and only 13% as bullish, based on direction and structure.
- The total notional value of the tracked trades exceeded $1.2 million, with positions spanning strike prices roughly between $290 and $660 and expirations stretching into 2026. [40]
The same article notes that CAT’s RSI is approaching overbought territory and that five analysts who updated their views in the last 30 days collectively point to an average target around $642. [41]
Combine that with the previously mentioned insider selling and you get a picture of a stock where near‑term sentiment is cautious, even as the long‑term fundamental story remains compelling.
Key risks to watch heading into 2026
Even bullish research notes emphasize several risks that could matter for Caterpillar shareholders:
- Tariffs and trade policy
- Management now expects a $1.6–$1.75 billion tariff impact in 2025, with heavier pressure in Q4. [42]
- Changes in trade policy or escalation of tariff regimes could further compress margins.
- Cyclical demand and interest rates
- While data center and energy projects are strong, parts of the traditional construction and mining businesses remain sensitive to high rates and slower growth in the US and abroad. [43]
- Earnings normalization after a boom period
- Zacks expects current‑year EPS to fall double‑digits from last year before rebounding, a reminder that some of CAT’s recent results reflect peak conditions rather than a steady‑state baseline. [44]
- Valuation risk
- With the stock near its 52‑week high and trading around 30x earnings, any disappointment — in AI data‑center demand, margins, or macro conditions — could trigger an outsized pullback. [45]
What today’s news means for CAT investors
Putting it all together, here’s how the November 29, 2025 news flow fits into the bigger Caterpillar story:
- Institutions are not abandoning CAT — they’re fine‑tuning positions after a huge rally. Some (like West Family and Norges Bank) have been buyers, while others (Virtue, Schroder, and the New York pension fund) took profits but retained meaningful stakes. [46]
- Insiders have been notable net sellers, locking in gains as the share price hovers near records. [47]
- A new valuation piece from Yahoo Finance and ongoing analysis from Macrotrends, WallStreetZen, Zacks and Simply Wall St all underscore the same fact: Caterpillar is no longer cheap, but opinions differ on whether it is fairly valued or still undervalued given its growth drivers. [48]
- The company’s fundamentals remain strong. Q3 showed double‑digit revenue growth, robust energy & transportation demand fueled by AI data centers, and impressive returns on equity and margins — though tariffs and a tough comparison year are pressuring EPS. [49]
- The Vertiv partnership suggests Caterpillar is strategically positioning itself as a critical supplier to AI and cloud infrastructure, not just a cyclical equipment manufacturer. [50]
- Meanwhile, the options market and technical indicators hint that short‑term traders see rising risk of volatility or consolidation, even while analysts’ average price targets sit modestly above current levels. [51]
For long‑term investors, today’s news mostly refines the picture rather than overturning it: Caterpillar remains a high‑quality, AI‑levered industrial leader trading at a premium multiple, with big institutions heavily involved on both the buy and sell side.
As always, anyone considering CAT stock should factor in their own risk tolerance, time horizon, and portfolio diversification. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
References
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