Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Stake Boosted by Physicians Financial Services Inc.

Physicians Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,264 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $2,197,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 37.0% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,157 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,015 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 29.5% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 5,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. PFG Advisors boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 0.8% in the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 6,415 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,635,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 10.8% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,116 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,387,000 after buying an additional 1,279 shares during the period. Finally, Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,966,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on DE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $360.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. HSBC lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Deere & Company from $395.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Deere & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $420.69.

Deere & Company Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:DE traded down $13.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $397.98. 378,044 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,429,887. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.87. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $340.20 and a 12 month high of $420.47. The company has a market cap of $108.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $402.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $385.56.

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

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 20.06%.

Deere & Company 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.