St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC Boosts Stock Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 6.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $1,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,141,000 after buying an additional 939 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 27.4% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $710,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.4% in the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 236,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,322,000 after buying an additional 5,485 shares during the period. Summit Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $628,105,000 after buying an additional 31,074 shares during the period. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DE shares. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $483.00 to $465.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $456.00 target price on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $383.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $395.00 target price for the company. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $431.14.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of DE opened at $376.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $103.64 billion, a PE ratio of 11.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $386.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $387.08. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $353.15 and a 1-year high of $450.00.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $8.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.86 by $0.67. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 42.26%. The firm had revenue of $13.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25.61 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 17.70%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total transaction of $5,048,913.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

About Deere & Company

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.