SSA Swiss Advisors AG Purchases Shares of 7,525 Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

SSA Swiss Advisors AG purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,000. Deere & Company comprises about 1.9% of SSA Swiss Advisors AG’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. 360 Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the first quarter valued at about $207,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 12.0% during the first quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 114.3% during the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 7,591 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,563,000 after acquiring an additional 4,049 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 5.8% during the first quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 5,012 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 235.2% during the first quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 7,166 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,363,000 after acquiring an additional 5,028 shares in the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Melius upgraded shares of Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective 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. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $530.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $495.00 to $556.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $515.50.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DE opened at $512.62 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.80, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.08. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $340.20 and a 12 month high of $533.78. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $512.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $485.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.89.

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

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.