Deere & Company Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:DE)

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 8,393 call options on the company. This is an increase of 35% compared to the average volume of 6,198 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 148.3% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,179,000 after buying an additional 7,300 shares during the period. Stockbridge Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 157.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 884,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $369,019,000 after purchasing an additional 540,874 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 86,952 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,288,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp increased its position in shares of Deere & Company by 53.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $23,376,000 after purchasing an additional 2,964 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $538.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $442.83.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

DE stock traded up $12.12 on Thursday, reaching $471.87. 447,364 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,296,988. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $435.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $404.30. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $340.20 and a 12 month high of $473.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.43, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.98.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 31.32% and a net margin of 13.73%. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $8.26 earnings per share. Deere & Company’s revenue was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. This is a boost from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is presently 25.31%.

Deere & Company Company Profile

Deere & Co engages in the manufacture and distribution of equipment used in agriculture, construction, forestry, and turf care. It operates through the following segments: Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Agriculture and Turf segment focuses on the distribution and manufacture of a full line of agriculture and turf equipment and related service parts.