Hartford Investment Management Co. Cuts Stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Hartford Investment Management Co. lessened its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,712 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 408 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $6,657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $470.00 to $430.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $446.17.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Shares of DE opened at $474.79 on Wednesday. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $340.20 and a 12-month high of $485.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. The company has a market cap of $129.31 billion, a PE ratio of 18.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $445.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $414.08.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 31.32%. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.20 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.26 earnings per share. Deere & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is an increase 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 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 25.31%.

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.