Sterling Capital Management LLC Has $8.23 Million Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Sterling Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,420 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,610 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $8,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heritage Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $4,152,000. Family Office Research LLC bought a new stake in Deere & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $251,000. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 26,129 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,071,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,460 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $619,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Argent Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 9,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,015,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on DE. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Deere & Company from $480.00 to $450.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Argus set a $510.00 price objective on Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Baird R W cut Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $457.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Deere & Company

In other news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total value of $12,304,993.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 74,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,484,675.58. This represents a 24.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of DE stock opened at $459.75 on Friday. Deere & Company has a 52-week low of $340.20 and a 52-week high of $515.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.22. The stock has a market cap of $124.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $470.92 and its 200-day moving average is $443.29.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.72%.

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.