Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Shares Sold by Empower Advisory Group LLC

Empower Advisory Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,973 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 5,951 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Deere & Company were worth $12,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Deere & Company by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on DE shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $437.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Deere & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $510.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com lowered Deere & Company from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $454.65.

Insider Transactions at Deere & Company

In other news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Deere & Company Price Performance

DE traded down $5.81 during trading on Friday, reaching $489.98. 1,102,183 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,465,614. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The company has a market capitalization of $133.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.98. Deere & Company has a 1 year low of $340.20 and a 1 year high of $515.05. The business's 50 day moving average price is $452.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $420.91.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $3.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.05. Deere & Company had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 27.31%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Deere & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Deere & Company's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.72%.

About Deere & Company

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.