KBC Group NV Grows Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Free Report) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 97,254 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV's holdings in Deere & Company were worth $45,646,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Deere & Company by 19.9% during 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 buying an additional 1,095,736 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,058,259 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,566,884,000 after acquiring an additional 157,224 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Deere & Company by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,581,408 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,364,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,039,395 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,305,571 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,247,216,000 after purchasing an additional 97,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,244,094,000. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Deere & Company from $513.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $462.00 to $440.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Deere & Company from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective 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. Finally, Argus set a $510.00 target price on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $515.19.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:DE opened at $513.46 on Monday. The company's 50-day moving average is $500.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $473.14. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $340.20 and a 1-year high of $533.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.84, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Deere & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.35%.

Deere & Company Profile

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.

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