Cerity Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Free Report) by 70.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 105,238 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 43,352 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Deere & Company were worth $42,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 1.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,089,159 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,920,548,000 after buying an additional 65,006 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 6.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,374,282 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,650,767,000 after buying an additional 269,571 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 104,373.8% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,219,883 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,380,557,000 after buying an additional 3,216,801 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,326,177,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Deere & Company by 2.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,061,715 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,155,430,000 after buying an additional 73,601 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $435.00 to $425.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $435.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Melius lowered shares of Deere & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $381.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $433.28.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of DE traded down $15.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $397.27. 1,877,172 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,498,118. Deere & Company has a one year low of $345.55 and a one year high of $450.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The business has a 50-day moving average of $384.71 and a 200 day moving average of $382.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.04.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $1.04. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.38% and a return on equity of 44.60%. The business had revenue of $10.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.55 earnings per share. Deere & Company's revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 27.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be paid a $1.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. Deere & Company's payout ratio is presently 17.12%.

Deere & Company Company Profile

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.