Cambridge Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Cambridge Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 49.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 550 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Deere & Company by 148.3% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,179,000 after purchasing an additional 7,300 shares during the period. Stockbridge Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 157.5% in the third quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 884,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $369,019,000 after purchasing an additional 540,874 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in Deere & Company by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 86,952 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,288,000 after buying an additional 1,291 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 53.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,669,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its position in Deere & Company by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $23,376,000 after buying an additional 2,964 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on DE shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on Deere & Company from $470.00 to $430.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $404.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $442.83.

Deere & Company Trading Up 4.0 %

DE opened at $456.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $340.20 and a 52 week high of $469.39. The business’s 50 day moving average is $431.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $401.99. The firm has a market cap of $124.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.98.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.66. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.20 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 31.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.26 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.57 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is an increase from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 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.