MML Investors Services LLC Has $23.70 Million Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 56,788 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,437 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $23,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DE. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in Deere & Company by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 265 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 22.7% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 2,235 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $933,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 37.9% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 230,652 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,258,000 after purchasing an additional 63,380 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 45,019 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,560,000 after buying an additional 4,466 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Deere & Company by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,352,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,068,404,000 after buying an additional 1,782,984 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. HSBC downgraded Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $443.28.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Deere & Company stock opened at $449.27 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. The stock has a market cap of $122.92 billion, a PE ratio of 17.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.96. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $340.20 and a 12-month high of $469.39. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $418.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $390.83.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.20 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 31.32%. The firm’s revenue was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.26 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 19.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 22.97%.

Deere & Company Profile

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.