American Trust Trims Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

American Trust cut its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,891 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 997 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $3,767,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DE. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $1,244,094,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $541,437,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Deere & Company by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,589,760 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,792,082,000 after buying an additional 1,095,736 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Deere & Company by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,581,408 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,364,843,000 after buying an additional 1,039,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $296,232,000. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Deere & Company from $455.00 to $493.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $542.00 price objective on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Deere & Company from $501.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Deere & Company from $530.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Deere & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $516.75.

Deere & Company Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE DE opened at $509.83 on Friday. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $340.20 and a 1-year high of $533.78. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $472.60 and a 200-day moving average of $458.72. The firm has a market cap of $138.37 billion, a PE ratio of 22.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly 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 27.31% and a net margin of 12.94%. The company had revenue of $11.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.53 EPS. Deere & Company’s revenue was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 8th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.