Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Takes $224,000 Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,988,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,031,500,000 after buying an additional 263,709 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Deere & Company by 0.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,859,021 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,585,028,000 after purchasing an additional 19,200 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Deere & Company by 2.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,254,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $842,259,000 after purchasing an additional 60,255 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Deere & Company by 15.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,146,441 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $802,037,000 after purchasing an additional 279,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,481,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $592,391,000 after buying an additional 150,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DE. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. HSBC cut Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Raymond James started coverage on Deere & Company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $410.50.

Deere & Company Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE DE opened at $418.06 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $115.20 billion, a PE ratio of 12.58, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $340.20 and a 12 month high of $419.63. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $379.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $384.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.63 by $0.66. The business had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.94 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 36.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $10.20 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 25.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 17.70%.

Deere & 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.