Blair William & Co. IL Sells 44,709 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 185,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 44,709 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $69,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 1,180.0% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 64 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Deere & Company by 725.0% during the 1st quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 66 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in Deere & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Core Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Deere & Company by 466.7% during the 4th quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 85 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Deere & Company

In related news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total transaction of $5,048,913.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 41,642 shares in the company, valued at $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on DE shares. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Deere & Company from $395.00 to $370.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Deere & Company from $375.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price target on the stock. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $409.88.

Deere & Company Price Performance

DE stock opened at $397.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $373.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $382.05. Deere & Company has a 1 year low of $340.20 and a 1 year high of $417.46. The stock has a market cap of $109.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.63 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 36.71% and a net margin of 14.69%. The business had revenue of $11.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $10.20 earnings per share. Deere & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 25.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $1.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.