National Pension Service Boosts Stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 10.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 492,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 47,518 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $205,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 725.0% in the first quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 66 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the second quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Centennial Bank AR boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 420.0% in the second quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 104 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on Deere & Company from $395.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, HSBC cut Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $420.69.

Deere & Company Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE DE opened at $406.86 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $400.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $385.41. Deere & Company has a 52-week low of $340.20 and a 52-week high of $420.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.66, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.63 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 36.71% and a net margin of 14.69%. The firm had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $10.20 earnings per share. Deere & Company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 20.06%.

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.