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

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) was the target of a large drop in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,620,000 shares, a drop of 5.2% from the May 31st total of 3,820,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,410,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DE. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Deere & Company from $483.00 to $465.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Deere & Company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Deere & Company from $460.00 to $439.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James began coverage on Deere & Company in a report on Friday, June 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Deere & Company from $383.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $427.66.

Insider Activity at Deere & Company

In related news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the firm’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 approximately $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,141,000 after buying an additional 939 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 27.4% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $710,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.4% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 236,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,322,000 after acquiring an additional 5,485 shares in the last quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $412,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $628,105,000 after acquiring an additional 31,074 shares in the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Deere & Company Trading Down 0.6 %

DE stock opened at $362.75 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $99.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.92, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.93. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $353.15 and a twelve month high of $450.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The business has a fifty day moving average of $383.89 and a 200-day moving average of $386.94.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.86 by $0.67. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The firm had revenue of $13.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.59 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $1.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. 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.