GWN Securities Inc. Invests $455,000 in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $455,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DE. Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its position in Deere & Company by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DE. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com cut Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Deere & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $460.00.

Deere & Company Price Performance

DE stock opened at $478.67 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $466.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $433.63. 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 $129.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.22, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.01. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.05. Deere & Company had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 27.31%. Equities research analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 28.72%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total transaction of $12,304,993.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 74,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,484,675.58. This trade represents a 24.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.