Sarasin & Partners LLP Boosts Stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 799,370 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 136,447 shares during the quarter. Deere & Company comprises about 2.6% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned 0.29% of Deere & Company worth $298,669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tompkins Financial Corp raised its stake in Deere & Company by 2.6% during the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 981 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,768 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,548,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC now owns 1,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $489,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 1,146 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $471,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 27 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

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on DE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $375.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $422.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Deere & Company news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the business’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 value of $5,048,913.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DE traded up $4.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $377.92. The company had a trading volume of 2,103,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,549,985. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.01. Deere & Company has a one year low of $340.20 and a one year high of $425.42. The firm has a market cap of $104.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.38, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $367.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $380.36.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.63 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.94 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $10.20 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 25.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 8th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio 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.