Verity & Verity LLC Invests $209,000 in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Verity & Verity LLC acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DE. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,589,760 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,792,082,000 after buying an additional 1,095,736 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,058,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,566,884,000 after buying an additional 157,224 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,581,408 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,364,843,000 after buying an additional 1,039,395 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,305,571 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,247,216,000 after buying an additional 97,203 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,244,094,000. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on Deere & Company from $495.00 to $556.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Deere & Company from $530.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Deere & Company from $546.00 to $619.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Melius upgraded Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $515.19.

Deere & Company Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:DE opened at $517.01 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $485.29 and a 200-day moving average of $468.18. The company has a market capitalization of $140.02 billion, a PE ratio of 22.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.22. Deere & Company has a 52-week low of $340.20 and a 52-week high of $533.78.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.72 by $0.92. The company had revenue of $11.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.80 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 27.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $8.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.35%.

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.