Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,928 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,538 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $25,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,988,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,031,500,000 after buying an additional 263,709 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,859,021 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,585,028,000 after purchasing an additional 19,200 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,541,967,000 after purchasing an additional 705,771 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,248,036,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,595,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $638,167,000 after purchasing an additional 160,369 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Deere & Company from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $395.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Deere & Company from $460.00 to $439.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Deere & Company from $383.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $426.71.

Deere & Company Trading Down 1.2 %

DE traded down $4.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $353.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,820,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,566,937. The stock has a market cap of $97.48 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.93. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $345.93 and a fifty-two week high of $441.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The business’s 50-day moving average is $370.86 and its 200-day moving average is $382.94.

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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $9.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 25.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.70%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The shares were 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 owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.