Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Acquires 362 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,147 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 362 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $6,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,541,967,000 after purchasing an additional 705,771 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the first quarter worth $191,628,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the 2nd quarter worth $166,937,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,146,441 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $802,037,000 after buying an additional 279,627 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,988,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,031,500,000 after acquiring an additional 263,709 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $395.00 to $370.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. 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 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Deere & Company from $375.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $409.88.

Deere & Company Price Performance

NYSE:DE opened at $405.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company has a 50-day moving average of $376.24 and a 200-day moving average of $382.66. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $340.20 and a 52 week high of $417.46. The company has a market capitalization of $111.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.22, 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.63 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $11.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.94 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 36.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $10.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.70%.

Insider Activity at Deere & Company

In other Deere & Company news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total transaction of $5,048,913.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares in the company, valued at $15,725,268.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.