Private Trust Co. NA Decreases Stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Private Trust Co. NA reduced its position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 36.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,296 shares during the quarter. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $960,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,254,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $842,259,000 after buying an additional 60,255 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 15.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,146,441 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $802,037,000 after acquiring an additional 279,627 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 8.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,994,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $832,431,000 after acquiring an additional 158,732 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 11.6% in the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 1,341,626 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $559,901,000 after acquiring an additional 139,336 shares during the period. Finally, Markel Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Deere & Company by 2.8% in the third quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 869,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $362,702,000 after purchasing an additional 23,750 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of Deere & Company stock opened at $462.81 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $469.39. The company has a market cap of $126.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50 day moving average is $408.35 and its 200 day moving average is $386.60.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.65. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 31.32% and a net margin of 13.73%. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $8.26 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 21.31 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup upped their target price 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. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. HSBC downgraded Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $433.00.

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.