Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Shares Bought by Pittenger & Anderson Inc.

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 29.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Summit Global Investments acquired a new stake in Deere & Company during the third quarter worth about $201,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Deere & Company by 10.9% during the third quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 335 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its position in Deere & Company by 327.0% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 7,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,785,000 after purchasing an additional 5,651 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Inc. increased its position in Deere & Company by 175.6% during the third quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 2,108 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. increased its position in Deere & Company by 0.5% during the third quarter. Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. now owns 23,356 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,814,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $401.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $381.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Melius lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $445.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $433.28.

Deere & Company Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:DE traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $394.06. The stock had a trading volume of 1,272,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,478,236. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $386.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $383.47. The company has a market capitalization of $109.69 billion, a PE ratio of 11.29, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.04. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $345.55 and a twelve month high of $450.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $1.04. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.38% and a return on equity of 44.60%. The company had revenue of $10.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 27.37 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 17.12%.

About Deere & Company

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.