Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Shares Bought by Premier Fund Managers Ltd

Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 115.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,990 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 16,081 shares during the quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $13,947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 635 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in Deere & Company in the 1st quarter worth approximately $988,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 5,001 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,347,000 after buying an additional 439 shares during the period. SLT Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Deere & Company in the 1st quarter worth approximately $245,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Deere & Company in the 1st quarter worth approximately $11,104,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $501.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $455.00 to $493.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Melius raised shares of Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $555.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $490.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $515.50.

Deere & Company Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of DE stock opened at $510.87 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $512.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $485.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The stock has a market cap of $138.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.72, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.08. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $533.78.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.72 by $0.92. The firm had revenue of $11.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.80 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 24.39%. The company’s revenue was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 31.35%.

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.