Jefferies Financial Group Downgrades Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) to Hold

Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $510.00 price target on the industrial products company's stock.

DE has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $395.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $496.00 to $538.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $440.50.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

NYSE DE traded down $4.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $443.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 738,833 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,443,084. The firm has a market cap of $121.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.96. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $340.20 and a 52 week high of $469.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $417.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $389.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 31.32%. The business had revenue of $9.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.26 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. This is a boost from Deere & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Deere & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.31%.

Institutional Trading of Deere & Company

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DE. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,352,465 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,068,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,208,368 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,168,737,000 after buying an additional 31,459 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Deere & Company by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,542,013 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,895,518,000 after buying an additional 988,380 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,254,266 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $842,259,000 after acquiring an additional 60,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Deere & Company by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,146,441 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $802,037,000 after acquiring an additional 279,627 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company's stock.

Deere & Company 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.