Zhang Financial LLC Increases Stock Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Zhang Financial LLC boosted its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 17.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DE. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 1,180.0% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 64 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DE. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $383.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $494.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $401.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $433.53.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of DE stock traded down $0.87 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $385.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,318,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,472,331. The business has a fifty day moving average of $399.95 and a 200-day moving average of $386.47. The stock has a market cap of $107.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.04. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $345.55 and a twelve month high of $450.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.86 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $13.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 42.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 26.61 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were given a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.70%.

Deere & Company Profile

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.