Opal Capital LLC Takes $700,000 Position in Deere & Company $DE

Opal Capital LLC bought a new stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,503 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DE. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,715,633,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 53.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,592,004 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,465,906,000 after buying an additional 3,358,264 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 1,725.8% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,003,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $932,870,000 after buying an additional 1,893,972 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 1,199.8% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,864,701 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $868,149,000 after buying an additional 1,721,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 278.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 487,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $223,005,000 after buying an additional 358,687 shares in the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on DE shares. Argus lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $540.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Deere & Company from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $530.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $543.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $639.58.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Deere & Company stock opened at $586.43 on Wednesday. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $433.00 and a 12-month high of $674.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $573.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $550.68. The stock has a market cap of $158.30 billion, a PE ratio of 33.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.92.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The industrial products company reported $6.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.70 by $0.85. The company had revenue of $13.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.55 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 10.09%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 18.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 36.71%.

Deere & Company Profile

Deere & Company, commonly known by its brand John Deere, is a global manufacturer of agricultural, construction and forestry machinery, as well as turf care equipment and power systems. Founded in 1837 by blacksmith John Deere—who developed a polished steel plow to improve tillage in tough prairie soils—the company is headquartered in Moline, Illinois, and has grown into one of the largest and most recognizable names in equipment manufacturing worldwide.

The company’s principal businesses include a broad portfolio of agricultural equipment such as tractors, combines, planters, sprayers, harvesters and tillage implements, complemented by precision agriculture technologies and telematics that support farm management, yield optimization and equipment connectivity.