State of Michigan Retirement System Reduces Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

State of Michigan Retirement System reduced its position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $29,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $1,248,036,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 46,241.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 840,627 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $336,142,000 after buying an additional 838,813 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,541,967,000 after buying an additional 705,771 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,595,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $638,167,000 after acquiring an additional 160,369 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Deere & Company by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,481,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $592,391,000 after acquiring an additional 150,713 shares in the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on DE. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $383.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $395.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $456.00 price target on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $427.66.

Insider Activity at Deere & Company

In other Deere & Company news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total transaction of $5,048,913.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Deere & Company Stock Up 1.1 %

DE stock traded up $3.96 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $364.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,289,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,516,737. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $384.54 and a 200 day moving average of $387.09. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $353.15 and a 1-year high of $450.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.86 by $0.67. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The business had revenue of $13.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $9.65 earnings per share. Deere & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.70%.

Deere & 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.