Deere & Company $DE Shares Sold by Princeton Global Asset Management LLC

Princeton Global Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 48.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,096 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,033 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Deere & Company by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,927,000 after buying an additional 1,278 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 2,076 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,056,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 10,309 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,243,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the period. SCS Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 30.0% in the second quarter. SCS Capital Management LLC now owns 941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 3.0% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 52,115 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,500,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares in the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $521.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Deere & Company from $675.00 to $580.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Bank of America raised their price target on Deere & Company from $502.00 to $672.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Deere & Company from $560.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Deere & Company news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.00, for a total transaction of $6,120,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 20,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,603,920. This represents a 36.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO John C. May II sold 41,472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.49, for a total value of $20,797,793.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 117,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,160,775.30. The trade was a 26.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Deere & Company Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of DE stock opened at $575.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock has a market cap of $155.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $584.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $512.97. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $404.42 and a fifty-two week high of $674.19.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.52. The company had revenue of $9.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.50 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 36.53%.

About Deere & Company

Deere & Company, commonly known by its brand John Deere, is a global manufacturer of agricultural, construction and forestry machinery, as well as turf care equipment and power systems. Founded in 1837 by blacksmith John Deere—who developed a polished steel plow to improve tillage in tough prairie soils—the company is headquartered in Moline, Illinois, and has grown into one of the largest and most recognizable names in equipment manufacturing worldwide.

The company’s principal businesses include a broad portfolio of agricultural equipment such as tractors, combines, planters, sprayers, harvesters and tillage implements, complemented by precision agriculture technologies and telematics that support farm management, yield optimization and equipment connectivity.