Commerce Bank Cuts Stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Commerce Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 129,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,643 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $51,593,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DE. SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $522,000. Main Street Research LLC lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 6.8% during the third quarter. Main Street Research LLC now owns 734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Deere & Company during the third quarter worth $6,096,000. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 1.1% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 36,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,746,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Daiwa Capital Markets raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $381.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $445.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $385.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $432.92.

Deere & Company Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE DE traded down $5.74 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $380.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,274,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,469,832. The company has a market capitalization of $105.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $399.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $386.47. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $345.55 and a 52 week high of $450.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.86 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $13.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.65 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 26.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 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.