Citigroup Begins Coverage on Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Citigroup began coverage on shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $395.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on DE. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Deere & Company from $483.00 to $465.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $385.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 17th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $383.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $430.55.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

DE opened at $373.63 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $385.32 and its 200 day moving average is $387.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market cap of $102.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $353.15 and a 12-month high of $450.00.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.86 by $0.67. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 42.26%. The business had revenue of $13.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.65 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 25.61 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 17.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Deere & Company news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total transaction of $5,048,913.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares in the company, valued at $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DE. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 1,180.0% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 64 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 725.0% during the first quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 66 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company 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.