Deere & Company $DE Shares Acquired by River Road Asset Management LLC

River Road Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 55.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 183,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 65,125 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $85,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 10,312 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares during the period. Spectrum Financial Alliance Ltd LLC raised its stake in Deere & Company by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Spectrum Financial Alliance Ltd LLC now owns 85,351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,737,000 after purchasing an additional 30,553 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp raised its stake in Deere & Company by 78.6% during the 4th quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 6,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,224,000 after purchasing an additional 3,047 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Deere & Company by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,651,982 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $755,385,000 after purchasing an additional 115,975 shares during the period. Finally, Eldred Rock Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $13,166,000. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on DE shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Deere & Company from $530.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Deere & Company from $460.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $521.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings raised Deere & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Deere & Company from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $639.58.

Deere & Company Trading Up 0.3%

Deere & Company stock opened at $590.37 on Friday. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $433.00 and a 12 month high of $674.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market cap of $159.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $574.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $552.39.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 21st. The industrial products company reported $6.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.70 by $0.85. The business had revenue of $13.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.55 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 10.09%.Deere & Company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 18.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.71%.

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.