Baird Financial Group Inc. Sells 5,017 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Baird Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE – Get Rating) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 131,951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,017 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $44,056,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,093,821 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,376,906,000 after acquiring an additional 208,053 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,108,362 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,529,801,000 after acquiring an additional 240,210 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,025,822 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $606,673,000 after acquiring an additional 9,039 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,686,779 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $563,198,000 after acquiring an additional 234,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,348,614 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $560,296,000 after acquiring an additional 29,757 shares in the last quarter. 75.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DE. Credit Suisse Group raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $447.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $475.00 to $477.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 19th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $374.00 to $452.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $364.00 to $398.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $522.00 to $537.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $460.81.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

DE opened at $402.45 on Wednesday. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $283.81 and a 12-month high of $448.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.25 billion, a PE ratio of 14.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $419.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $403.02.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 17th. The industrial products company reported $6.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.53 by $1.02. The company had revenue of $11.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.14 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 14.71% and a return on equity of 41.17%. Deere & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.92 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 30.58 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a boost from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.80%.

About Deere & Company

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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.