Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Cuts Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 8.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,824 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,480 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $15,536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,141,000 after buying an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 27.4% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Deere & Company by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $628,105,000 after purchasing an additional 31,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 857.9% during the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 7,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,061,000 after purchasing an additional 6,855 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DE opened at $376.82 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.34, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $372.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $383.53. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $345.93 and a 12 month high of $441.46.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.86 by $0.67. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 42.26%. The firm had revenue of $13.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.65 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.41 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $483.00 to $465.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 20th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upped their target price on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $426.71.

Insider Activity at Deere & Company

In other Deere & Company news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total transaction of $5,048,913.10. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 accessible through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.