Westpac Banking Corp Increases Position in Deere & Company $DE

Westpac Banking Corp increased its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 73.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,033 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,108 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $6,778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,583,185 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,514,053,000 after acquiring an additional 198,332 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,485,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,898,717,000 after purchasing an additional 97,049 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,592,004 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,465,906,000 after purchasing an additional 3,358,264 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Deere & Company by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,692,877 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,581,574,000 after purchasing an additional 158,584 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Deere & Company by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,600,552 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,609,149,000 after purchasing an additional 17,269 shares during the period. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $680.00 target price (down from $715.00) on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Deere & Company from $580.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $759.00 to $812.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $575.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $642.98.

Deere & Company Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of DE opened at $588.06 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $582.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $573.70. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $433.00 and a twelve month high of $674.19.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The industrial products company reported $6.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.70 by $0.85. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 10.09%.The firm had revenue of $13.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.64 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 18.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 36.71%.

Deere & Company Profile

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.