Deere & Company manufactures and distributes 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 mid-size tractors, combines, cotton pickers and strippers, sugarcane harvesters, harvesting front-end equipment, sugarcane loaders, 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. The Small Agriculture and Turf segment offers utility tractors, and related loaders and attachments; turf and utility equipment, including riding lawn equipment, commercial mowing equipment, golf course equipment, and utility vehicles, as well as implements for mowing, tilling, snow and debris handling, aerating, residential, commercial, golf, and sports turf care applications; other outdoor power products; and hay and forage equipment. This segment also resells products from other manufacturers. It serves dairy and livestock producers, crop producers, and turf and utility customers. The Construction and Forestry segment provides a range of backhoe loaders, crawler dozers and loaders, four-wheel-drive loaders, excavators, motor graders, articulated dump trucks, landscape and skid-steer loaders, milling machines, pavers, compactors, rollers, crushers, screens, asphalt plants, log skidders, log feller bunchers, log loaders and forwarders, log harvesters, and attachments; and roadbuilding equipment. The Financial Services segment finances sales and leases agriculture and turf, and construction and forestry equipment. It also offers wholesale financing to dealers of the foregoing equipment; and extended equipment warranties, as well as finances retail revolving charge accounts. Deere & Company was founded in 1837 and is headquartered in Moline, Illinois.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
DE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Friday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Deere & Company from $452.00 to $416.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Deere & Company from $480.00 to $420.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 23rd. Citigroup raised shares of Deere & Company from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $435.00 to $340.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 7th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group set a $393.00 target price on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $398.00.
Deere & Company Stock Down 0.6 %
Deere & Company stock opened at $366.05 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market cap of $111.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.09, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $322.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $364.08. Deere & Company has a 12 month low of $283.81 and a 12 month high of $446.76.
Deere & Company (NYSE:DE - Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 20th. The industrial products company reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.65 by $0.16. Deere & Company had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 33.58%. The company had revenue of $12.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.68 EPS. Deere & Company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 23.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Deere & Company Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 30th were paid a $1.13 dividend. This is an increase from Deere & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 29th. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Deere & Company's payout ratio is presently 23.58%.
Insider Transactions at Deere & Company
In other news, insider John H. Stone sold 17,145 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,321.07, for a total value of $74,084,745.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,118,403.09. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.