Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,464 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 890 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $3,586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DE. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Centennial Bank AR boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 420.0% during the second quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 104 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 155.8% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Deere & Company from $448.00 to $477.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $538.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $442.83.

Deere & Company Trading Up 4.0 %

NYSE DE opened at $456.57 on Monday. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $340.20 and a 52 week high of $469.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $431.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $402.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. The firm has a market cap of $124.35 billion, a PE ratio of 17.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.98.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 31.32% and a net margin of 13.73%. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.26 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 32.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is a positive change from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. 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.