ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Increases Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,524 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 486 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $1,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 148.3% during the 4th 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 boosted its position in Deere & Company by 157.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 884,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $369,019,000 after buying an additional 540,874 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Deere & Company by 1.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Deere & Company by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,808 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,906,000 after buying an additional 2,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 53.8% during the third quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Trading Down 0.4 %

Deere & Company stock opened at $408.45 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $427.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $399.70. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $340.20 and a 52 week high of $469.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.98.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 31.32%. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.52 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This is a positive change from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on DE shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $448.00 to $477.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $443.94.

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.