Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Given New $555.00 Price Target at Oppenheimer

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) had its price target hoisted by Oppenheimer from $513.00 to $555.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

DE has been the subject of several other reports. Baird R W lowered Deere & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America raised their target price on Deere & Company from $495.00 to $556.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $542.00 target price on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com raised Deere & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Argus set a $510.00 target price on Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $495.00.

Deere & Company Trading Up 3.0%

NYSE DE opened at $531.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $533.78. The company has a market cap of $144.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s fifty day moving average is $468.29 and its 200 day moving average is $454.33.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.72 by $0.92. The business had revenue of $11.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.80 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 12.94%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 8th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 28.72%.

Insider Activity at Deere & Company

In related news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total value of $12,304,993.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,484,675.58. The trade was a 24.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Deere & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 2,750.0% during the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 57 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Deere & Company during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 116.1% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Deere & Company by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Deere & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 68.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.