Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Macquarie upgraded the stock from an underperform rating to a neutral rating. The stock had previously closed at $104.81, but opened at $102.17. Deere & Co. shares last traded at $104.09, with a volume of 6,159,915 shares trading hands.
Several other research firms have also issued reports on DE. Vetr upgraded shares of Deere & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $80.57 target price for the company in a report on Monday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $96.00 target price on shares of Deere & Co. in a report on Thursday, August 18th. Jefferies Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Deere & Co. in a report on Friday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Deere & Co. from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays PLC restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Deere & Co. in a report on Monday, August 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Deere & Co. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.49.
In other Deere & Co. news, insider John C. May II sold 18,614 shares of Deere & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.46, for a total transaction of $1,795,506.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,790,201.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.
A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Co. by 21.3% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 167,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,328,000 after buying an additional 29,514 shares during the last quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Deere & Co. during the third quarter valued at approximately $367,000. Piedmont Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Deere & Co. during the third quarter valued at approximately $9,379,000. Quantitative Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Deere & Co. during the third quarter valued at approximately $590,000. Finally, OLD Republic International Corp boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Co. by 19.4% in the third quarter. OLD Republic International Corp now owns 394,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,690,000 after buying an additional 64,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.14% of the company’s stock.
The firm has a market capitalization of $32.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s 50 day moving average is $88.69 and its 200 day moving average is $84.01.
Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.50. The business earned $6.52 billion during the quarter. Deere & Co. had a return on equity of 22.73% and a net margin of 5.92%. Deere & Co.’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Deere & Co. will post $4.32 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 30th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 28th. Deere & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 48.10%.
TRADEMARK VIOLATION WARNING: “[[title]]” was first posted by [[site]] and is the propert of of [[site]]. If you are accessing this story on another publication, it was stolen and reposted in violation of US and international trademark & copyright law. The legal version of this story can be read at [[permalink]].
About Deere & Co.
Deere & Company is engaged in equipment operations and financial services. The Company operates through three business segments: agriculture and turf, construction and forestry, and financial services. The Company’s agriculture and turf segment primarily manufactures and distributes a full line of agriculture and turf equipment and related service parts.