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

First Bank & Trust lowered its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,940 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 33 shares during the period. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.6% in the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 981 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $403,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 5,367 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,146,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in Deere & Company by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,879 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $751,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in Deere & Company by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,158 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,063,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its position in Deere & Company by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 5,158 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,063,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DE. Raymond James began coverage on Deere & Company in a research report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial began coverage on Deere & Company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $494.00 price objective for the company. Daiwa Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Deere & Company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on Deere & Company from $483.00 to $465.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $430.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total transaction of $5,048,913.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Shares of DE stock traded down $1.68 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $373.63. The company had a trading volume of 6,689,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,409,983. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $385.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $387.21. Deere & Company has a 52-week low of $353.15 and a 52-week high of $450.00. The stock has a market cap of $102.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.80.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.86 by $0.67. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The firm had revenue of $13.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.