PEORIA, Ill., April 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of
Directors of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) voted today to maintain
the quarterly cash dividend of seventy
cents ($0.70) per share of
common stock, payable May 20, 2015,
to stockholders of record at the close of business on April 20, 2015.
"I am pleased to announce we are maintaining Caterpillar's
dividend," said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman. "In 2014, we kept a strong
balance sheet and delivered the third highest operating cash flow
in our history. In addition, we returned a record $5.8 billion in capital to stockholders through
dividends and stock repurchase. This dividend supports our
commitment to deliver superior returns to stockholders through the
cycles."
Caterpillar has paid higher dividends to its stockholders for 21
consecutive years, and since 2006, the company's cash dividend has
more than doubled. Including the announcement today, Caterpillar
has paid a cash dividend every year since the company was formed
and has paid a quarterly dividend since 1933.
About Caterpillar:
For 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress
possible and driving positive change on every continent. Customers
turn to Caterpillar to help them develop infrastructure, energy and
natural resource assets. With 2014 sales and revenues of
$55.184 billion, Caterpillar is the
world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment,
diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and
diesel-electric locomotives. The company principally operates
through its three product segments - Construction Industries,
Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation - and also
provides financing and related services through its Financial
Products segment. For more information, visit
caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit
caterpillar.com/social-media.
Forward-looking Statements:
Certain statements in this
press release relate to future events and expectations and are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe,"
"estimate," "will be," "will," "would," "expect," "anticipate,"
"plan," "project," "intend," "could," "should" or other similar
words or expressions often identify forward-looking statements. All
statements other than statements of historical fact are
forward-looking statements, including, without limitation,
statements regarding our outlook, projections, forecasts or trend
descriptions. These statements do not guarantee future performance,
and we do not undertake to update our forward-looking
statements.
Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those
described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a
number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and
regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the
industries we serve; (ii) government monetary or fiscal policies
and infrastructure spending; (iii) commodity price changes,
component price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products
or significant shortages of component products; (iv) disruptions or
volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of
liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers;
(v) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events
beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (vi)
failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting
increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost
of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital
markets; (vii) our Financial Products segment's risks associated
with the financial services industry; (viii) changes in interest
rates or market liquidity conditions; (ix) an increase in
delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's
customers; (x) new regulations or changes in financial services
regulations; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing,
all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures
or divestitures; (xii) international trade policies and their
impact on demand for our products and our competitive position;
(xiii) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products
that meet our customers' needs; (xiv) the impact of the highly
competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and
pricing; (xv) failure to realize all of the anticipated benefits
from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency and cash
flow and to reduce costs; (xvi) additional restructuring costs or a
failure to realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or
future cost reduction actions; (xvii) inventory management
decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM
customers; (xviii) compliance with environmental laws and
regulations; (xix) alleged or actual violations of trade or
anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xx) additional tax expense
or exposure; (xxi) currency fluctuations; (xxii) our or Cat
Financial's compliance with financial covenants; (xxiii) increased
pension plan funding obligations; (xxiv) union disputes or other
employee relations issues; (xxv) significant legal proceedings,
claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) changes in
accounting standards; (xxvii) failure or breach of IT security;
(xxviii) adverse effects of unexpected events including natural
disasters; and (xxix) other factors described in more detail under
"Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on
February 17, 2015, for the year ended
December 31, 2014.
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/caterpillar-inc-maintains-dividend-rate-300062898.html
SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.