Kentucky Retirement Systems Cuts Stock Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,508 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 267 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Deere & Company were worth $7,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,978 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. 9258 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $790,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Deere & Company by 62.9% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,430 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $551,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $380,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,017,000. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Deere & Company news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on DE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Deere & Company from $375.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America increased their target price on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $395.00 to $370.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $409.88.

Deere & Company Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of DE stock opened at $401.11 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.87. Deere & Company has a one year low of $340.20 and a one year high of $417.46. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $374.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $382.18. The company has a market capitalization of $110.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.92.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.63 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 36.71% and a net margin of 14.69%. The business had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.20 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.70%.

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.