Intech Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Intech Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 55.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,568 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 28,199 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $9,270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,541,967,000 after purchasing an additional 705,771 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,248,036,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,595,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $638,167,000 after purchasing an additional 160,369 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 31,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,481,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $592,391,000 after buying an additional 150,713 shares during the period. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Deere & Company

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on DE. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $395.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price objective for the company. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $483.00 to $465.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $427.13.

Deere & Company Price Performance

NYSE DE traded down $2.58 on Friday, hitting $378.06. The company had a trading volume of 1,152,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,758,635. The company has a market capitalization of $104.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.38, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $375.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $384.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.80. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $345.93 and a 12-month high of $450.00.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.86 by $0.67. The company had revenue of $13.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 42.26%. The firm’s revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.65 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 25.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 17.70%.

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.