Aberdeen Group plc Increases Holdings in Deere & Company $DE

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in Deere & Company by 17.1% in the first quarter, bringing its total to 267,809 shares valued at approximately $124.4 million.
• Deere & Company's stock was recently rated with a consensus "Hold" and has an average price target of $523.93 from various analysts.
• The company reported $4.75 EPS for the recent quarter, exceeding expectations, but faced a 9% year-over-year decline in revenue with a total of $10.36 billion.

Aberdeen Group plc increased its holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Free Report) by 17.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 267,809 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 39,085 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.10% of Deere & Company worth $124,404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Deere & Company by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,063,590 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $10,355,546,000 after acquiring an additional 185,671 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Deere & Company by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,589,760 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,792,082,000 after acquiring an additional 1,095,736 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Deere & Company by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,058,259 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,566,884,000 after acquiring an additional 157,224 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Deere & Company by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,915,729 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,235,394,000 after acquiring an additional 330,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Deere & Company by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,587,065 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,096,179,000 after acquiring an additional 184,203 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on Deere & Company from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $495.00 to $556.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $560.00 to $566.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Deere & Company from $595.00 to $580.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $523.87.

Deere & Company Stock Down 0.4%

DE stock traded down $1.9330 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $489.1970. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,492,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,365,119. The company has a market cap of $132.49 billion, a PE ratio of 25.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.06. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $371.76 and a 12 month high of $533.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The firm's 50-day moving average is $510.56 and its 200-day moving average is $490.14.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 14th. The industrial products company reported $4.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.33 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 21.97% and a net margin of 11.72%.The firm's quarterly revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Deere & Company's payout ratio is currently 33.87%.

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.