Short Interest in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Rises By 7.9%

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,340,000 shares, a growth of 7.9% from the December 15th total of 4,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,180,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in Deere & Company during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Centennial Bank AR boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 420.0% in the second quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 104 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in Deere & Company by 155.8% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. 68.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DE shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of 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 lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $442.83.

Deere & Company Price Performance

NYSE:DE traded up $17.46 on Monday, reaching $456.57. The stock had a trading volume of 2,315,484 shares, compared to its average volume of 906,286. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. The company has a market capitalization of $124.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.98. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $340.20 and a 1-year high of $469.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $431.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $402.53.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.20 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 31.32%. Deere & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 32.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.26 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.57 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend yield of 1.42%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.31%.

Deere & Company Company Profile

Deere & Co engages in the manufacture and distribution of equipment used in agriculture, construction, forestry, and turf care. It operates through the following segments: Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Agriculture and Turf segment focuses on the distribution and manufacture of a full line of agriculture and turf equipment and related service parts.