HCR Wealth Advisors Decreases Stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

HCR Wealth Advisors lowered its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 79.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 623 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,409 shares during the period. HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Deere & Company were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the second quarter worth $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 725.0% during the first quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 66 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the second quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DE. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Friday, August 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $400.00 price objective for the company. HSBC cut shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $395.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $360.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Twelve 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $420.69.

Deere & Company Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE DE opened at $411.08 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $387.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $385.44. Deere & Company has a 52-week low of $340.20 and a 52-week high of $420.47. The firm has a market cap of $113.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.92. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.63 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 36.71%. The business had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $10.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 25.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio 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.