Argent Advisors Inc. Sells 53 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Argent Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 5.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 890 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 53 shares during the period. Argent Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 27.4% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $710,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the period. Summit Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $628,105,000 after buying an additional 31,074 shares in the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 857.9% in the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 7,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,061,000 after buying an additional 6,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the first quarter worth $2,783,000. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Deere & Company Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE DE traded up $3.90 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $385.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,413,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,528,736. 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 firm has a market cap of $106.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50 day moving average is $367.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $379.83.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.63 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The business had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $10.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.41 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 17.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Deere & Company

In related news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HSBC cut shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup cut their price target on Deere & Company from $395.00 to $370.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.