Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Shares Bought by National Pension Service

National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 560,358 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68,272 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $237,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DE. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,680 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,622,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Deere & Company by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 97,859 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,983,000 after purchasing an additional 2,655 shares in the last quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 160.9% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $495,000 after buying an additional 732 shares during the period. Finally, Bay Rivers Group increased its position in shares of Deere & Company by 172.2% in the third quarter. Bay Rivers Group now owns 5,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,779 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $546.00 target price (down previously from $550.00) on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $437.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $454.65.

Deere & Company Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:DE opened at $487.52 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $453.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $423.91. Deere & Company has a 52-week low of $340.20 and a 52-week high of $515.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.98. 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 earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $3.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 28.72%.

Insider Transactions at Deere & Company

In other news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total value of $12,304,993.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,484,675.58. The trade was a 24.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Profile

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.