Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Shares Sold by Whittier Trust Co.

Whittier Trust Co. trimmed its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,785 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 151 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $8,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DE. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,102 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $528,000. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 1,362 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $545,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC now owns 1,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,000. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Deere & Company Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE DE traded up $3.78 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $381.73. 324,797 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,524,939. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $340.20 and a 12 month high of $423.35. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $105.19 billion, a PE ratio of 11.38, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $367.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $379.83.

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. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 42.26%. The firm had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $10.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 17.70%.

Insider Transactions at Deere & Company

In other news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total value of $5,048,913.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DE. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $483.00 to $465.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $375.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upped their price target 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. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $414.11.

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.