Sweeney & Michel LLC Takes $543,000 Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Sweeney & Michel LLC acquired a new stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $543,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in shares of Deere & Company by 1,180.0% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 64 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on DE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Deere & Company from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Deere & Company from $460.00 to $439.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Deere & Company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $395.00 price objective on the stock. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $426.71.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DE traded down $5.00 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $371.77. 2,251,182 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,506,654. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average is $371.99 and its 200-day moving average is $383.43. Deere & Company has a one year low of $345.93 and a one year high of $441.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.86 by $0.67. The company had revenue of $13.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.29 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 42.26% and a net margin of 16.15%. The business’s revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 25.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.70%.

Insider Activity

In other Deere & Company news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total value of $5,048,913.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares in the company, valued at $15,725,268.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.