Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Shares Sold by Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV

Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV cut its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,262 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,204 shares during the quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $3,087,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DE. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $1,248,036,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 46,241.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 840,627 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $336,142,000 after acquiring an additional 838,813 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,541,967,000 after purchasing an additional 705,771 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Deere & Company in the 1st quarter valued at about $191,628,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Deere & Company by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,988,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,031,500,000 after buying an additional 263,709 shares during the period. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DE shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Deere & Company from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Raymond James initiated coverage on Deere & Company in a report on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets boosted their price target on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $426.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of Deere & Company stock traded down $8.91 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $344.84. 2,508,308 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,533,185. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $441.46. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $370.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $382.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market cap of $95.03 billion, a PE ratio of 10.35, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.93.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.86 by $0.67. The company had revenue of $13.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 42.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.