IFM Investors Pty Ltd Sells 688 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,260 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 688 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $22,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 20.5% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,808 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,906,000 after buying an additional 2,692 shares during the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Deere & Company during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,783,000. Royal Fund Management LLC lifted its position in Deere & Company by 99.8% during the third quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 6,454 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,694,000 after purchasing an additional 3,223 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Deere & Company during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,052,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Deere & Company during the second quarter valued at approximately $24,984,000. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC downgraded shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $371.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $420.69.

Deere & Company Price Performance

DE traded up $0.37 during trading on Thursday, hitting $409.01. 256,085 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,455,607. The company has a market cap of $112.71 billion, a PE ratio of 12.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $396.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $385.38. Deere & Company has a 1 year low of $340.20 and a 1 year high of $420.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.63 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $11.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.94 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 36.71%. Deere & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $10.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 25.03 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 Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $1.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 17.70%.

Deere & 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.