First Financial Bank Trust Division Cuts Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

First Financial Bank Trust Division lowered its position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,145 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 155 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $2,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Deere & Company during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Centennial Bank AR raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 420.0% in the second quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 104 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in Deere & Company by 155.8% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Deere & Company during the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Deere & Company stock traded down $5.52 during trading on Thursday, reaching $418.18. The company had a trading volume of 998,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,424,756. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 2.09. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $340.20 and a fifty-two week high of $469.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $426.95 and its 200-day moving average is $398.16. The company has a market cap of $113.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.96.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 31.32% and a net margin of 13.73%. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $8.26 earnings per share. Deere & Company’s revenue for the quarter was down 32.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.52 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $538.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $443.94.

Deere & Company Profile

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.