Empirical Finance LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 316 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $4,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,141,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Deere & Company by 27.4% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $710,000 after buying an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Deere & Company by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $412,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $628,105,000 after acquiring an additional 31,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 857.9% during the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 7,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,061,000 after acquiring an additional 6,855 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Deere & Company Trading Up 1.0 %

DE stock traded up $3.73 on Friday, reaching $365.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,004,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,511,898. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $378.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $385.38. The firm has a market cap of $100.67 billion, a PE ratio of 11.06, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.93. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $345.93 and a 12-month high of $450.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.86 by $0.67. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The business had revenue of $13.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 25.56 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is presently 17.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on DE shares. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $483.00 to $465.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Deere & Company from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their price target on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $427.13.

Insider Transactions at Deere & Company

In other news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total transaction of $5,048,913.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Profile

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.