Barnett & Company Inc. Increases Stock Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Barnett & Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,290 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Barnett & Company Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its position in Deere & Company by 155.8% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Baird R W cut shares of Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Argus set a $510.00 price target on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Deere & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $460.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total transaction of $12,304,993.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 74,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,484,675.58. The trade was a 24.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Deere & Company Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of DE opened at $471.90 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $473.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $436.88. The firm has a market cap of $128.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.01. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $340.20 and a 52 week high of $515.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.22.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $3.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.05. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 12.94%. On average, analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is presently 28.72%.

About Deere & Company

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.