Private Client Services LLC Acquires New Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Private Client Services LLC bought a new position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 480 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 324.4% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,909 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,328,000 after buying an additional 6,810 shares during the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 230.2% during the second quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 928 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the second quarter valued at about $584,000. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 5.4% in the second quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 3,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 41,496 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,504,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Deere & Company from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays upped 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. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $443.94.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Deere & Company stock opened at $409.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $427.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $399.42. Deere & Company has a 52-week low of $340.20 and a 52-week high of $469.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.20 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 31.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.26 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $1.62 dividend. This is an increase from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is presently 25.31%.

About Deere & Company

Deere & Company engages in the manufacture and distribution of various equipment worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Production and Precision Agriculture, Small Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Production and Precision Agriculture segment provides large and medium tractors, combines, cotton pickers and strippers, sugarcane harvesters and loaders, harvesting front-end equipment, pull-behind scrapers, and tillage and seeding equipment, as well as application equipment, including sprayers and nutrient management, and soil preparation machinery for grain growers.