Aspiriant LLC Has $597,000 Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Aspiriant LLC increased its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,452 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 38 shares during the quarter. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,248,036,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 46,241.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 840,627 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $336,142,000 after acquiring an additional 838,813 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,541,967,000 after acquiring an additional 705,771 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,595,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $638,167,000 after acquiring an additional 160,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,481,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $592,391,000 after acquiring an additional 150,713 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $395.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $456.00 price objective on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $483.00 to $465.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $431.14.

Deere & Company Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:DE opened at $376.70 on Friday. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $353.15 and a 52 week high of $450.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.01. The company’s fifty day moving average is $386.34 and its 200-day moving average is $387.01. The company has a market capitalization of $103.81 billion, a PE ratio of 11.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total transaction of $5,048,913.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 41,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Deere & Company

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.