WoodTrust Financial Corp Acquires 14,629 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

WoodTrust Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 1,559.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,567 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,629 shares during the quarter. Deere & Company comprises about 0.7% of WoodTrust Financial Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $6,394,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tompkins Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Deere & Company by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 981 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Essex Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 5,367 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,146,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,879 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,158 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,063,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC boosted its position in Deere & Company by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 5,158 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,063,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total value of $5,048,913.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares in the company, valued at $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Deere & Company stock traded down $1.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $373.63. The company had a trading volume of 6,689,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,409,983. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.80. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $353.15 and a 12-month high of $450.00. The company has a market capitalization of $102.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $385.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $387.02.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.86 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $13.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The business’s revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $9.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25.61 EPS for the current 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 1.57%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.70%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on DE. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $494.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $456.00 target price on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Raymond James started coverage on Deere & Company in a research report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price target for the company. Citigroup started coverage on Deere & Company in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $395.00 price target for the company. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $430.55.

Deere & Company 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.