Aspiriant LLC Increases Stock Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Aspiriant LLC increased its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,452 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $597,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 21.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 27.4% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $89,322,000 after purchasing an additional 5,485 shares during the period. Summit Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Summit Asset Management LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $628,105,000 after buying an additional 31,074 shares in the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DE has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Deere & Company from $425.00 to $385.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $494.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $456.00 price objective on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $431.14.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DE opened at $376.70 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $386.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $387.01. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $353.15 and a 12 month high of $450.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $7.86 by $0.67. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 42.26%. The company had revenue of $13.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $9.65 EPS. Deere & Company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 25.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total value of $5,048,913.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.