Symmetry Investments LP Sells 5,894 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Symmetry Investments LP lessened its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 32.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,894 shares during the period. Symmetry Investments LP’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $4,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Deere & Company by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,988,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,031,500,000 after purchasing an additional 263,709 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,859,021 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,585,028,000 after acquiring an additional 19,200 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,541,967,000 after acquiring an additional 705,771 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Deere & Company by 15.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,146,441 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $802,037,000 after acquiring an additional 279,627 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,481,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $592,391,000 after purchasing an additional 150,713 shares during the period. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $395.00 to $370.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $409.88.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DE opened at $405.89 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $376.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $382.66. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $340.20 and a fifty-two week high of $417.46. The company has a market capitalization of $111.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.22, a P/E/G 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.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.63 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $11.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.94 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 36.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $10.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 25.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The stock was 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 directly owns 41,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Deere & Company Company Profile

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.