New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Deere & Company $DE

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 68.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,314 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 13,909 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $2,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Deere & Company by 1.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,372,671 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,376,279,000 after acquiring an additional 309,081 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,386,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,297,913,000 after purchasing an additional 64,262 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,541,778 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,810,807,000 after purchasing an additional 111,627 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,578,243,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 10.1% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,580,228 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,312,020,000 after purchasing an additional 236,406 shares in the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DE. Zacks Research raised Deere & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Deere & Company from $543.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $521.00 to $615.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $480.00 to $460.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $637.70.

Insider Activity at Deere & Company

In other news, CEO John C. May II sold 41,472 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.49, for a total transaction of $20,797,793.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 117,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,160,775.30. The trade was a 26.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cory J. Reed sold 12,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider owned 20,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,603,920. The trade was a 36.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DE opened at $631.04 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $541.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $496.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $404.42 and a 1-year high of $674.19. The company has a market cap of $170.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.96.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 10.29%.The business had revenue of $9.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.19 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 36.53%.

Deere & Company 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.