First Heartland Consultants Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

First Heartland Consultants Inc. increased its holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 7.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,981 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. First Heartland Consultants Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Deere & Company by 20.5% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,808 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,906,000 after buying an additional 2,692 shares during the period. Balentine LLC purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 3rd quarter worth about $710,000. Royal Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 99.8% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 6,454 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,694,000 after purchasing an additional 3,223 shares during the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,052,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 2nd quarter worth about $24,984,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Deere & Company from $443.00 to $496.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $420.69.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:DE opened at $393.83 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $403.35 and its 200 day moving average is $385.61. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $340.20 and a fifty-two week high of $420.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.75 billion, a PE ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.07.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.63 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 36.71% and a net margin of 14.69%. The company had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $10.20 EPS. Deere & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio 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.