Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Shares Purchased by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 142,021 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 7,609 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.05% of Deere & Company worth $59,270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DE. Stockbridge Partners LLC boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 157.5% during the third quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 884,237 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $369,019,000 after buying an additional 540,874 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,808 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $5,906,000 after purchasing an additional 2,692 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 53.8% in the 3rd quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Balentine LLC acquired a new stake in Deere & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $710,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Deere & Company by 2.7% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 155,184 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $64,763,000 after purchasing an additional 4,051 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company's stock.

Deere & Company Stock Down 0.9 %

DE traded down $4.19 on Friday, reaching $443.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,129,945 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,444,930. The company has a market capitalization of $121.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.96. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $340.20 and a fifty-two week high of $469.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $417.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $389.92.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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 in the prior year, the business posted $8.26 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DE shares. 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 price objective for the company. HSBC downgraded Deere & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Deere & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $510.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $440.50.

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.