Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on DE. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Deere & Company from $437.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group cut Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays upped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $454.65.

Deere & Company Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of DE stock opened at $489.98 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The stock has a market cap of $133.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $452.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $420.91. Deere & Company has a 1 year low of $340.20 and a 1 year high of $515.05.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $3.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.05. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 12.94%. On average, research analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Deere & Company

In related news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total value of $12,304,993.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,878 shares in the company, valued at $37,484,675.58. This represents a 24.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Deere & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DE. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Deere & Company by 148.3% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,179,000 after acquiring an additional 7,300 shares during the last quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC boosted its position in Deere & Company by 157.5% during the third quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 884,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $369,019,000 after acquiring an additional 540,874 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $254,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Deere & Company by 1.5% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 86,952 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,288,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp boosted its position in 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 valued at $1,669,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.