Mechanics Bank Trust Department Sells 276 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department trimmed its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 27.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 738 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 276 shares during the quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in Deere & Company by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,141,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 27.4% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $710,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 2.4% in the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 236,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,322,000 after acquiring an additional 5,485 shares during the period. Summit Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $412,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Deere & Company by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $628,105,000 after acquiring an additional 31,074 shares during the period. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on DE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Deere & Company from $425.00 to $385.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 17th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $383.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $433.36.

Insider Transactions at Deere & Company

In other news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total value of $5,048,913.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Deere & Company stock opened at $369.46 on Wednesday. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $353.15 and a 52 week high of $450.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $386.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $387.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market cap of $101.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.12, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.98.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.86 by $0.67. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The business had revenue of $13.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 25.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 17.70%.

Deere & Company Company Profile

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.