Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,220,000 shares, a drop of 22.0% from the June 30th total of 4,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total value of $5,048,913.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Deere & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,462,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth $80,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,442,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 60.3% during the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $149,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,141,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of DE traded down $5.00 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $371.77. 2,251,182 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,506,654. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $372.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $383.53. The company has a market cap of $102.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.93. 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 has a 1 year low of $345.93 and a 1 year high of $441.46.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.86 by $0.67. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 42.26%. The company had revenue of $13.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 25.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.70%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $483.00 to $465.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $460.00 to $439.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $383.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $426.71.

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.