Deere & Company Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:DE)

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 8,393 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 35% compared to the typical volume of 6,198 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 32.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,352,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,068,404,000 after buying an additional 1,782,984 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,208,368 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,168,737,000 after buying an additional 31,459 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 27.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,542,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,895,518,000 after purchasing an additional 988,380 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Deere & Company by 2.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,254,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $842,259,000 after buying an additional 60,255 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Deere & Company by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,994,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $832,431,000 after purchasing an additional 158,732 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DE opened at $475.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $435.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $404.30. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $340.20 and a 52 week high of $475.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.98.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 31.32% and a net margin of 13.73%. The company had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 32.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. This is a boost from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is presently 25.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on DE shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on Deere & Company from $470.00 to $430.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $448.00 to $477.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $442.83.

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.