Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 1.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 810,956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 12,557 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned 0.29% of Deere & Company worth $302,997,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 27.4% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $710,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 857.9% in the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 7,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,061,000 after buying an additional 6,855 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,783,000. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $731,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 75,832 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,323,000 after buying an additional 13,833 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on DE. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $375.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Deere & Company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $443.00 target price (up from $439.00) on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $414.11.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of Deere & Company stock opened at $394.68 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $371.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $381.51. The stock has a market cap of $107.98 billion, a PE ratio of 11.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.92. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $340.20 and a 52 week high of $417.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.63 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $11.39 billion for 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%. Deere & Company’s revenue was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $10.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Deere & Company

In other news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $15,725,268.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Deere & 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.