Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Shares Sold by Sarasin & Partners LLP

Sarasin & Partners LLP lowered its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 33.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 513,344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 258,522 shares during the quarter. Deere & Company comprises approximately 2.4% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $217,504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DE. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Deere & Company in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $216,000. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 35.0% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,245 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,707,000 after buying an additional 1,877 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,939,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 31,298 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,694,000 after buying an additional 1,740 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 36,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,522,000 after buying an additional 2,034 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on DE shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Deere & Company from $470.00 to $430.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $442.83.

Deere & Company Stock Up 4.0 %

Shares of DE opened at $456.57 on Monday. Deere & Company has a 52-week low of $340.20 and a 52-week high of $469.39. The company has a market capitalization of $124.35 billion, a PE ratio of 17.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $431.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $402.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 31.32% and a net margin of 13.73%. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.20 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.26 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.57 EPS for the current 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 paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. 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.