Leavell Investment Management Inc. Sells 920 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 9.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,405 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 920 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $3,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,988,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,031,500,000 after acquiring an additional 263,709 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,585,028,000 after purchasing an additional 19,200 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,254,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $842,259,000 after buying an additional 60,255 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Deere & Company by 15.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,146,441 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $802,037,000 after buying an additional 279,627 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 8.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,470,159 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $603,854,000 after buying an additional 114,116 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Deere & Company from $360.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. HSBC cut Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $395.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Friday, August 9th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $420.69.

Deere & Company Stock Down 4.2 %

DE stock opened at $393.99 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $403.02 and a 200 day moving average of $385.69. The firm has a market cap of $107.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.93. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $420.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

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

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 20.06%.

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.