St. Clair Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 500 Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

St. Clair Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DE. Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total transaction of $12,304,993.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,484,675.58. The trade was a 24.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DE. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Thursday. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $542.00 price objective on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of Deere & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $490.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $504.38.

Deere & Company Trading Up 3.0%

DE opened at $531.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $468.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $455.02. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $340.20 and a 1-year high of $533.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.64 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $10.80 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 27.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.53 EPS. Analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.72%.

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.