ProShare Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 6.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,034 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $13,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,541,967,000 after purchasing an additional 705,771 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Deere & Company in the 1st quarter valued at $191,628,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Deere & Company in the 2nd quarter worth $166,937,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Deere & Company by 15.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,146,441 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $802,037,000 after acquiring an additional 279,627 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Deere & Company by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,988,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,031,500,000 after purchasing an additional 263,709 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on DE. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $443.00 price objective (up from $439.00) on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Deere & Company from $375.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $410.50.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Deere & Company stock opened at $408.83 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $112.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $376.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $383.12. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $340.20 and a 1-year high of $417.46.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.63 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $11.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.94 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 36.71% and a net margin of 14.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $10.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.07 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $1.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 17.70%.

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.