Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Raises Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,881 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,270 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $3,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 981 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Field & Main Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 4,050 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,663,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Cooper Financial Group lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 1,146 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen raised their target price on Deere & Company from $383.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Raymond James assumed coverage on Deere & Company in a report on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Deere & Company from $375.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their target price on Deere & Company from $483.00 to $465.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 20th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $414.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of Deere & Company stock opened at $383.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $105.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $368.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $380.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $417.46.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $11.39 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $10.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 17.70%.

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.