Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 922,008 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 10,170 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.34% of Deere & Company worth $384,782,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 725.0% during the first quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 66 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Centennial Bank AR lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 420.0% during the second quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 104 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DE has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $360.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $395.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $420.69.

Deere & Company Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of DE opened at $405.71 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $402.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $385.56. The firm has a market cap of $111.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.84, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.93. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $340.20 and a 12 month high of $420.47.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.63 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 36.71%. The firm had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.06%.

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.