Legal & General Group Plc Grows Stake in Deere & Company $DE

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,651,982 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 115,975 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.61% of Deere & Company worth $755,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 4.4% in the third quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd now owns 500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC increased its position in Deere & Company by 1.4% in the second quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC now owns 1,574 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $801,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 3.0% in the second quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 4.1% in the third quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC now owns 564 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DE has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup cut their price target on Deere & Company from $675.00 to $625.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Deere & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $535.00 to $775.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $543.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $644.70.

Deere & Company Price Performance

DE stock opened at $600.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $554.55 and a 200-day moving average of $500.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.96. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $404.42 and a 12 month high of $674.19.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.52. Deere & Company had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $9.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.00, for a total transaction of $6,120,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,792 shares in the company, valued at $10,603,920. The trade was a 36.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John C. May II sold 41,472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.49, for a total value of $20,797,793.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 117,970 shares in the company, valued at $59,160,775.30. This represents a 26.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Profile

Deere & Company, commonly known by its brand John Deere, is a global manufacturer of agricultural, construction and forestry machinery, as well as turf care equipment and power systems. Founded in 1837 by blacksmith John Deere—who developed a polished steel plow to improve tillage in tough prairie soils—the company is headquartered in Moline, Illinois, and has grown into one of the largest and most recognizable names in equipment manufacturing worldwide.

The company’s principal businesses include a broad portfolio of agricultural equipment such as tractors, combines, planters, sprayers, harvesters and tillage implements, complemented by precision agriculture technologies and telematics that support farm management, yield optimization and equipment connectivity.