Iyo Bank Ltd. Makes New Investment in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Iyo Bank Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 5,130 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,917,000. Deere & Company comprises approximately 0.7% of Iyo Bank Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,988,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,031,500,000 after acquiring an additional 263,709 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,859,021 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,585,028,000 after buying an additional 19,200 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,541,967,000 after buying an additional 705,771 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,248,036,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,595,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $638,167,000 after buying an additional 160,369 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Deere & Company from $375.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America upped their price target on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $414.11.

Insider Activity at Deere & Company

In other Deere & Company 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of DE stock traded up $3.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $385.74. The stock had a trading volume of 1,413,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,615,005. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $340.20 and a 12-month high of $423.35. The company has a market cap of $106.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $367.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $379.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.63 by $0.66. The business had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.94 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 36.71% and a net margin of 14.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.20 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 17.70%.

About Deere & Company

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.