Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE – Get Rating) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 22,448 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 84% compared to the average daily volume of 12,178 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $510.00 to $490.00 in a report on Monday. Daiwa Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Wednesday, March 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $440.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $398.00 to $367.00 in a research report on Monday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $537.00 to $517.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $440.00 to $392.00 in a research report on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $443.86.

Institutional Trading of Deere & Company

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DE. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 17.5% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 633,261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $211,440,000 after purchasing an additional 94,311 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $252,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the third quarter valued at $374,000. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,785 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,671,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.72% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE DE opened at $354.08 on Thursday. Deere & Company has a one year low of $283.81 and a one year high of $448.40. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $382.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $409.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.88, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.03.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 19th. The industrial products company reported $9.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.57 by $1.08. Deere & Company had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 43.11%. The firm had revenue of $16.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.81 earnings per share. Deere & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 31.01 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Company Profile

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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.