Deere & Company’s (DE) Buy Rating Reiterated at DA Davidson

DA Davidson restated their buy rating on shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in a research note published on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $580.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Deere & Company from $510.00 to $440.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Deere & Company from $512.00 to $531.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $525.00 to $515.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $518.95.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Deere & Company stock opened at $481.90 on Monday. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $403.01 and a fifty-two week high of $533.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $467.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $489.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.22. The company has a market capitalization of $130.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.03, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.00.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 26th. The industrial products company reported $3.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $12.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.77 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 20.54% and a net margin of 11.00%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.55 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO John C. May II sold 11,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.08, for a total transaction of $5,553,888.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 112,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,235,496.24. This trade represents a 8.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Deere & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DE. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the second quarter worth $1,578,243,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the first quarter valued at about $571,073,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Deere & Company by 573.9% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 842,882 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $428,597,000 after purchasing an additional 717,808 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 132.0% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 721,638 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $366,946,000 after purchasing an additional 410,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 97.1% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 733,871 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $344,442,000 after buying an additional 361,526 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Deere & Company

Deere & Co engages in the manufacture and distribution of equipment used in agriculture, construction, forestry, and turf care. It operates through the following segments: Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Agriculture and Turf segment focuses on the distribution and manufacture of a full line of agriculture and turf equipment and related service parts.