Moors & Cabot Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Moors & Cabot Inc. lowered its holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,833 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 288 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $3,174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. RB Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 1,637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $680,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Bornite Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the first quarter worth $14,541,000. Retirement Income Solutions Inc acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 1st quarter valued at about $229,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 27.1% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,442 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Deere & Company by 32.4% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 114,322 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,496,000 after buying an additional 27,985 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on DE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $398.00 to $407.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 21st. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $467.00 to $458.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on Deere & Company in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $455.00 to $422.50 in a research note on Wednesday, October 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $447.93.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Shares of DE traded up $0.58 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $381.45. 209,273 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,546,379. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $383.00 and its 200 day moving average is $394.25. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $345.55 and a 1-year high of $450.00. The stock has a market cap of $109.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.07.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 18th. The industrial products company reported $10.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.22 by $1.98. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 46.15% and a net margin of 16.36%. The business had revenue of $14.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.16 earnings per share. Deere & Company’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 33.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 29th were given a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 28th. This is a positive change from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 15.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ryan D. Campbell sold 6,073 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.19, for a total transaction of $2,302,820.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 18,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,022,219.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Profile

Deere & Company manufactures and distributes 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 mid-size tractors, combines, cotton pickers and strippers, sugarcane harvesters, harvesting front-end equipment, sugarcane loaders, 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.