California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 27,865 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Free Report) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 710,090 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 27,865 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.26% of Deere & Company worth $300,865,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 60.5% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Deere & Company news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total value of $12,304,993.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,878 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,484,675.58. The trade was a 24.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DE. Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $501.00 price target on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Deere & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $510.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Baird R W lowered shares of Deere & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $460.00.

Deere & Company Price Performance

NYSE:DE traded down $14.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $456.38. 1,070,453 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,400,642. The business's 50-day moving average price is $478.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $441.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The company has a market cap of $123.87 billion, a PE ratio of 20.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.01. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $340.20 and a 12-month high of $515.05.

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

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Deere & Company's payout ratio is 28.72%.

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.