Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 922,008 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 10,170 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $384,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mattern Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,884 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $786,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 8,148 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,401,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,160 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Deere & Company by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,459,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its position in Deere & Company by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on DE shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $443.00 to $496.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $360.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Hsbc Global Res cut Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. HSBC cut shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $420.69.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DE opened at $405.71 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $402.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $385.56. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $340.20 and a 52 week high of $420.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.00 billion, a PE ratio of 13.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.93.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.63 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $11.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.94 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 36.71% and a net margin of 14.69%. The business’s revenue was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.20 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $1.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 20.06%.

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.