Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Shares Bought by Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 24.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,066 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $4,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 6.8% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,055 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,944,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 10,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,202,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 811 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Deere & Company by 10.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 101,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,482,000 after acquiring an additional 9,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Deere & Company by 37.6% in the third quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC now owns 3,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on DE shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. HSBC downgraded shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Deere & Company from $360.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $395.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $420.69.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

DE traded up $5.81 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $395.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 167,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,427,918. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $403.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $385.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.14 billion, a PE ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.93. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $340.20 and a fifty-two week high of $420.47.

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

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. 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.