Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Shares Sold by Guardian Investment Management

Guardian Investment Management lowered its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 82.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,630 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 7,600 shares during the quarter. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $680,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DE. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,808 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,906,000 after acquiring an additional 2,692 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised 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 buying an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the 1st quarter worth about $2,783,000. Range Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $1,074,000. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $443.00 to $496.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Deere & Company from $360.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, HSBC downgraded Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $420.69.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of DE traded up $5.32 on Friday, reaching $411.08. The stock had a trading volume of 653,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,483,328. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $420.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.28 billion, a PE ratio of 12.37, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $387.01 and a 200 day moving average of $385.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 36.71% and a net margin of 14.69%. The firm had revenue of $11.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $10.20 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.03 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. 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.