Analysts Set Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Target Price at $426.71

Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $426.71.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Deere & Company from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Daiwa Capital Markets increased their price objective on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 target price on the stock.

Deere & Company Price Performance

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

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $13.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 25.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Deere & Company

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,988,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,031,500,000 after buying an additional 263,709 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Deere & Company by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,859,021 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,585,028,000 after purchasing an additional 19,200 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in Deere & Company by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,541,967,000 after purchasing an additional 705,771 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,248,036,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,595,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $638,167,000 after purchasing an additional 160,369 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.