Smith Salley Wealth Management Acquires 59 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Smith Salley Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 735 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $312,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Deere & Company by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,352,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,068,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Deere & Company by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,208,368 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,168,737,000 after acquiring an additional 31,459 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Deere & Company by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,542,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,895,518,000 after acquiring an additional 988,380 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Deere & Company by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,254,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $842,259,000 after acquiring an additional 60,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Deere & Company by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,994,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $832,431,000 after acquiring an additional 158,732 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Stock Up 4.0 %

Deere & Company stock opened at $456.57 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $431.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $402.25. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $340.20 and a fifty-two week high of $469.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

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

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. This is a positive change from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is presently 25.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $470.00 to $430.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays raised 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. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $448.00 to $477.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $538.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $442.83.

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.