Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Sells 36 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,574 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 36 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $667,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in Deere & Company during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 155.8% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on DE shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $538.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $444.50.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DE opened at $465.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $445.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $412.86. The company has a market cap of $126.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.98. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $340.20 and a 12 month high of $485.84.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.66. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.20 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 31.32% and a net margin of 13.73%. Deere & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 32.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $8.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.38 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is an increase from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is presently 25.31%.

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.