First Command Advisory Services Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Deere & Company $DE

First Command Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 8.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. First Command Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Deere & Company by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,063,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,355,546,000 after purchasing an additional 185,671 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Deere & Company by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,876,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,227,258,000 after purchasing an additional 286,253 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in Deere & Company by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,815,817 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $852,254,000 after purchasing an additional 35,075 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Deere & Company by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,549,048 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $727,046,000 after purchasing an additional 25,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Deere & Company by 23.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,353,255 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $635,150,000 after purchasing an additional 256,806 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research reduced their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Zacks Research cut shares of Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. UBS Group set a $535.00 price target on shares of Deere & Company and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $566.00 to $512.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $518.72.

Deere & Company Price Performance

DE opened at $477.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $129.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.02. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $387.03 and a fifty-two week high of $533.78. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $469.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $489.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 14th. The industrial products company reported $4.75 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $10.33 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 21.97%. Deere & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 33.87%.

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.