XML Financial LLC Grows Stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

XML Financial LLC raised its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 911 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Deere & Company by 148.3% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,179,000 after purchasing an additional 7,300 shares during the last quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 157.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 884,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,019,000 after buying an additional 540,874 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 86,952 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,288,000 after buying an additional 1,291 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 53.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,669,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $23,376,000 after acquiring an additional 2,964 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on DE shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Deere & Company from $470.00 to $430.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Deere & Company from $448.00 to $477.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $442.83.

Deere & Company Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE DE opened at $459.55 on Thursday. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $469.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $433.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $403.91. The firm has a market cap of $125.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.98.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 31.32%. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $8.26 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 19.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.31%.

About Deere & Company

Deere & Co engages in the manufacture and distribution of equipment used in agriculture, construction, forestry, and turf care. It operates through the following segments: Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Agriculture and Turf segment focuses on the distribution and manufacture of a full line of agriculture and turf equipment and related service parts.