Peoples Bank KS Increases Stock Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Peoples Bank KS increased its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 335.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,298 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Peoples Bank KS’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $550,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 32.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,352,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,068,404,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782,984 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,542,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,895,518,000 after purchasing an additional 988,380 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 53,338.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 854,484 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $356,602,000 after purchasing an additional 852,885 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 46,892.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 772,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $322,218,000 after purchasing an additional 770,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stockbridge Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 157.5% during the third quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 884,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,019,000 after buying an additional 540,874 shares in the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Deere & Company Stock Down 1.1 %

Deere & Company stock opened at $413.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $112.23 billion, a PE ratio of 16.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.98. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $427.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $399.34.

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

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders 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 positive change from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 25.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DE shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Deere & Company from $448.00 to $477.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $443.94.

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.