Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Cuts Stock Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. cut its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $392,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 50.7% during the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 22,531 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,546,000 after acquiring an additional 7,578 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Inc. CA raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 22,008 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,325,000 after purchasing an additional 3,984 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Deere & Company by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,058,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,566,884,000 after purchasing an additional 157,224 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Deere & Company by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,587,065 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,096,179,000 after purchasing an additional 184,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dnca Finance increased its position in shares of Deere & Company by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Dnca Finance now owns 68,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,939,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on DE shares. Baird R W cut shares of Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $437.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $501.00 price target on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com cut Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, April 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $459.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total transaction of $12,304,993.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 74,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,484,675.58. This represents a 24.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Deere & Company Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE DE opened at $452.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $122.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $469.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $444.52. Deere & Company has a 1 year low of $340.20 and a 1 year high of $515.05.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $3.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.05. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 12.94%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 8th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.72%.

Deere & 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.