Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Lowers Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 244 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $3,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 153.7% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $934,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377 shares during the period. Optas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the 1st quarter worth $201,000. Chapin Davis Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 1,839 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $755,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the first quarter valued at about $2,783,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 10.2% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,827,000 after buying an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Trading Down 0.8 %

DE traded down $3.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $407.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 591,048 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,453,785. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $420.47. The stock has a market cap of $112.41 billion, a PE ratio of 12.28, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $397.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $385.35. 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 released 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. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 36.71% and a net margin of 14.69%. The firm had revenue of $11.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $10.20 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Friday, August 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $420.69.

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.