Godsey & Gibb Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Godsey & Gibb Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 16.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 208 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. Godsey & Gibb Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $98,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings 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 last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,058,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,566,884,000 after buying an additional 157,224 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,581,408 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,364,843,000 after buying an additional 1,039,395 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 1.9% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 97,203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,244,094,000. 68.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on DE shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $455.00 to $493.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Melius raised shares of Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $530.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $546.00 to $619.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $515.19.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DE opened at $519.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $479.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $465.95. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $340.20 and a fifty-two week high of $533.78. The firm has a market cap of $140.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.09.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.72 by $0.92. Deere & Company had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 27.31%. The firm had revenue of $11.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $8.53 earnings per share. Deere & Company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. 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.