Deere & Company (DE) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 31st

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 1.62 per share by the industrial products company on Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

Deere & Company has increased its dividend by an average of 15.6% per year over the last three years. Deere & Company has a dividend payout ratio of 29.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Deere & Company to earn $22.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.4%.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

DE stock opened at $465.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $126.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.62, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.01. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $515.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $477.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $439.39.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced 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 27.31% and a net margin of 12.94%. Analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Deere & Company stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 39.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,278 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $1,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on DE shares. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $501.00 price objective on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised Deere & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Argus set a $510.00 target price on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $460.00.

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.