Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.62

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 1.62 per share by the industrial products company on Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%.

Deere & Company has increased its dividend by an average of 15.6% per year over the last three years. Deere & Company has a payout ratio of 29.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Deere & Company to earn $22.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.4%.

Deere & Company Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Deere & Company stock traded down $7.37 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $480.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 872,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,435,563. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $453.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $423.91. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $340.20 and a 52 week high of $515.05. The stock has a market cap of $130.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.98.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $3.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.05. Deere & Company had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 27.31%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total transaction of $12,304,993.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 74,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,484,675.58. This represents a 24.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on DE shares. StockNews.com downgraded Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Deere & Company from $437.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $454.65.

Deere & Company Company Profile

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.