Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,340,000 shares, a growth of 7.9% from the December 15th total of 4,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,180,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 148.3% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,179,000 after buying an additional 7,300 shares during the last quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 157.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 884,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,019,000 after buying an additional 540,874 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 86,952 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,288,000 after buying an additional 1,291 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 53.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,669,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $23,376,000 after buying an additional 2,964 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of DE stock opened at $456.57 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 2.09. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $340.20 and a fifty-two week high of $469.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $431.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $402.53.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 31.32%. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 25.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $538.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $442.83.

Deere & Company Company Profile

Deere & Co engages in the manufacture and distribution of equipment used in agriculture, construction, forestry, and turf care. It operates through the following segments: Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Agriculture and Turf segment focuses on the distribution and manufacture of a full line of agriculture and turf equipment and related service parts.