Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) saw a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,340,000 shares, an increase of 7.9% from the December 31st total of 4,950,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,180,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DE. Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Deere & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Deere & Company from $538.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group increased their price target on Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $470.00 to $430.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $444.50.

Deere & Company Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE DE opened at $469.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.98. Deere & Company has a one year low of $340.20 and a one year high of $485.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $444.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $410.23.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.66. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.20 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 31.32%. The company’s revenue was down 32.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.38 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.31%.

About Deere & Company

Deere & Co engages in the manufacture and distribution of equipment used in agriculture, construction, forestry, and turf care. It operates through the following segments: Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Agriculture and Turf segment focuses on the distribution and manufacture of a full line of agriculture and turf equipment and related service parts.