Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Shares Sold by Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 57.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,596 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 6,287 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $1,947,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,352,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,068,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,984 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,208,368 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,168,737,000 after purchasing an additional 31,459 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 27.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,542,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,895,518,000 after purchasing an additional 988,380 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,155,613 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $913,334,000 after purchasing an additional 160,956 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,063,898 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $874,473,000 after purchasing an additional 107,544 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DE. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $501.00 target price on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Baird R W cut Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com cut Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Deere & Company from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $460.00.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

DE stock opened at $477.03 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The firm has a market cap of $129.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.01. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $340.20 and a 12-month high of $515.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $471.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $435.61.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $3.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.05. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 12.94%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Deere & Company news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total value of $12,304,993.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,484,675.58. This trade represents a 24.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.