Crews Bank & Trust Buys New Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,623 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,535,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 5,284 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,239,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Busey Bank boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Busey Bank now owns 7,215 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,057,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Deere & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Baring Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $319,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $444.50.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Shares of DE opened at $478.50 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $441.75 and a 200-day moving average of $408.11. The company has a market cap of $130.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.98. 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 1 year low of $340.20 and a 1 year high of $485.84.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.20 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.26 EPS. Deere & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 32.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. This is a positive change from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 25.31%.

Deere & 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.