Wealth Alliance Acquires Shares of 493 Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Wealth Alliance bought a new position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 493 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DE. Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on Deere & Company from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $437.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $454.65.

Deere & Company Price Performance

DE stock opened at $489.98 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $452.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $421.43. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $340.20 and a 12-month high of $515.05. 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 company has a market capitalization of $133.45 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.98.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $3.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.05. Deere & Company had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 27.31%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.72%.

Deere & Company Company Profile

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.