Rockland Trust Co. Acquires 80 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Rockland Trust Co. boosted its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 9.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 888 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of DE. United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 4,016 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,500,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 3.3% during the second quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 1,791 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $669,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,081,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. KG&L Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 6.6% in the second quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC now owns 7,509 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,829,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,324,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Deere & Company news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Stock Down 0.4 %

DE stock traded down $1.47 on Thursday, hitting $375.58. 437,865 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,538,242. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $367.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $380.05. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $340.20 and a 12-month high of $423.35. The stock has a market cap of $103.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.63 by $0.66. The business had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.94 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The company’s revenue was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $10.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 17.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. HSBC lowered Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $395.00 to $370.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $383.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Friday, August 9th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $400.00 price objective for the company. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $415.50.

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.