Fortitude Family Office LLC Increases Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 160.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 732 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,808 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,906,000 after acquiring an additional 2,692 shares during the last quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 99.8% in the third quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 6,454 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,694,000 after purchasing an additional 3,223 shares during the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the third quarter valued at $1,052,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the second quarter valued at $24,984,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 2.2% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 90,871 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,923,000 after buying an additional 1,963 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DE shares. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Deere & Company from $360.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Deere & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $420.69.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DE opened at $412.35 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $398.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $385.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $113.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.92. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $340.20 and a 1-year high of $420.47.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its earnings results 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. Deere & Company had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 36.71%. The company had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $10.20 EPS. Deere & Company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.