Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Stock Price Up 0.2% on Analyst Upgrade

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) was up 0.2% on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $415.00 to $425.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Deere & Company traded as high as $404.22 and last traded at $398.08. Approximately 252,239 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 1,480,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $397.27.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on DE. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $381.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Melius lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $445.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup cut their target price on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Deere & Company from $435.00 to $425.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $433.28.

Institutional Trading of Deere & Company

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DE. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Deere & Company by 1.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,089,159 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,920,548,000 after purchasing an additional 65,006 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,374,282 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,650,767,000 after acquiring an additional 269,571 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,541,967,000 after acquiring an additional 705,771 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 104,373.8% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,219,883 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,380,557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,216,801 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,248,036,000. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Deere & Company Stock Down 0.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $109.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $384.95 and its 200 day moving average is $382.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.81.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $1.04. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 44.60% and a net margin of 16.38%. The business had revenue of $10.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.55 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 27.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 17.12%.

About Deere & Company

Deere & Company engages in the manufacture and distribution of various equipment worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Production and Precision Agriculture, Small Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Production and Precision Agriculture segment provides large and medium tractors, combines, cotton pickers and strippers, sugarcane harvesters and loaders, harvesting front-end equipment, pull-behind scrapers, and tillage and seeding equipment, as well as application equipment, including sprayers and nutrient management, and soil preparation machinery for grain growers.