Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Position Reduced by Schnieders Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Schnieders Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Deere & Company by 32.6%, now holding 1,926 shares worth approximately $904,000.
• Institutional investors own 68.58% of Deere & Company's stock, with Vanguard Group Inc. increasing its stake by 0.8% and now owning over 22 million shares.
• Deere & Company reported $6.64 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, despite a 17.9% decline in year-over-year revenue.

Schnieders Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Free Report) by 32.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,926 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 930 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC's holdings in Deere & Company were worth $904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DE. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Deere & Company by 61,215.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,753,022 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $822,781,000 after acquiring an additional 1,750,163 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth $541,437,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 19.9% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,095,736 shares in the last quarter. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $255,686,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter worth $149,057,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on DE. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $530.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $542.00 price objective on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $501.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Deere & Company from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $475.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $515.50.

Deere & Company Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of DE stock traded down $2.74 on Thursday, hitting $506.90. The stock had a trading volume of 958,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,135,084. The stock's 50 day moving average is $512.37 and its 200-day moving average is $488.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.06. Deere & Company has a 52-week low of $343.38 and a 52-week high of $533.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 2.11.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.72 by $0.92. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 24.39% and a net margin of 12.40%. The business had revenue of $11.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $8.53 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Deere & Company's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.35%.

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.