Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $433.28.

DE has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Melius downgraded shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $381.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $445.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th.

Deere & Company Trading Down 3.8 %

Deere & Company stock opened at $397.27 on Friday. Deere & Company has a 52-week low of $345.55 and a 52-week high of $450.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $384.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $382.40.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $1.04. The company had revenue of $10.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.30 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 44.60% and a net margin of 16.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 27.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be paid a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 17.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Deere & Company by 104,373.8% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,219,883 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,380,557,000 after buying an additional 3,216,801 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Deere & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $1,248,036,000. Viking Global Investors LP bought a new position in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth $562,442,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 46,241.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 840,627 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $336,142,000 after purchasing an additional 838,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

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.