Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Short Interest Up 7.5% in August

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,030,000 shares, a growth of 7.5% from the July 31st total of 3,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,640,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DE. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $395.00 to $370.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Deere & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $414.11.

Deere & Company Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE DE traded up $3.92 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $385.74. 1,413,100 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,528,739. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.30 billion, a PE ratio of 11.61, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.93. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $367.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $379.78. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $340.20 and a 1-year high of $423.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.07.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.63 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.94 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 36.71%. Deere & Company's revenue for the quarter was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $10.20 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $1.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Deere & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 13,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.63, for a total transaction of $5,048,913.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,642 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,725,268.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Deere & Company

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $1,248,036,000. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,541,967,000 after acquiring an additional 705,771 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 1st quarter valued at $191,628,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at $166,937,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,146,441 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $802,037,000 after acquiring an additional 279,627 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company's stock.

About Deere & Company

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.