Heck Capital Advisors LLC Has $415,000 Stock Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Key Points

• Heck Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Deere & Company by 67.7%, selling 1,851 shares, with remaining holdings worth $415,000.
• The company's quarterly earnings beat expectations with a reported $6.64 earnings per share, despite a 17.9% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.
• Deere & Company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.62 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.3% and a payout ratio of 31.35%.

Heck Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Free Report) by 67.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 884 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 1,851 shares during the quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Deere & Company were worth $415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Deere & Company by 61,215.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,753,022 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $822,781,000 after buying an additional 1,750,163 shares during the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth $541,437,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Deere & Company in the first quarter worth $571,073,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position 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 worth $2,792,082,000 after buying an additional 1,095,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter worth $255,686,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $490.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Deere & Company from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $455.00 to $493.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Deere & Company from $530.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $521.47.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DE traded up $9.84 on Friday, reaching $488.68. 2,673,758 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,318,860. The company's 50 day moving average is $511.18 and its 200-day moving average is $489.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.35 billion, a PE ratio of 25.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.06. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $371.16 and a fifty-two week high of $533.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.89.

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

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. Deere & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.