Short Interest in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Rises By 5.1%

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,360,000 shares, an increase of 5.1% from the January 15th total of 5,100,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on DE. Citigroup increased their target price on Deere & Company from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $450.12.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DE traded up $21.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $501.40. 2,367,575 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,455,526. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $447.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $417.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 2.09. Deere & Company has a one year low of $340.20 and a one year high of $502.10.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $3.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.05. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 31.32% and a net margin of 13.73%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This is an increase from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 28.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 worth $3,068,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,984 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,589,760 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,792,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095,736 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,058,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,566,884,000 after purchasing an additional 157,224 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,581,408 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,364,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039,395 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,305,571 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,247,216,000 after purchasing an additional 97,203 shares during the period. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Deere & Company 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.