LRT Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Deere & Company $DE

LRT Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 1,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $545,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DE. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,578,243,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 573.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 842,882 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $428,597,000 after purchasing an additional 717,808 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 278.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 487,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $223,005,000 after purchasing an additional 358,687 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 50,691.9% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 332,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $168,910,000 after purchasing an additional 331,525 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 21.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,815,007 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $829,930,000 after purchasing an additional 323,512 shares during the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Deere & Company

In other Deere & Company news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 12,000 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.00, for a total transaction of $6,120,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 20,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,603,920. The trade was a 36.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John C. May II sold 41,472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.49, for a total value of $20,797,793.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 117,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,160,775.30. This represents a 26.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Deere & Company Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of DE stock opened at $572.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.27, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $566.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $503.71. Deere & Company has a 1 year low of $404.42 and a 1 year high of $674.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.96.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.52. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 10.29%.The firm had revenue of $9.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on DE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Deere & Company from $480.00 to $460.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Deere & Company from $460.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen raised Deere & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Deere & Company from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Friday, November 28th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Deere & Company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $644.70.

Deere & Company Company Profile

Deere & Company, commonly known by its brand John Deere, is a global manufacturer of agricultural, construction and forestry machinery, as well as turf care equipment and power systems. Founded in 1837 by blacksmith John Deere—who developed a polished steel plow to improve tillage in tough prairie soils—the company is headquartered in Moline, Illinois, and has grown into one of the largest and most recognizable names in equipment manufacturing worldwide.

The company’s principal businesses include a broad portfolio of agricultural equipment such as tractors, combines, planters, sprayers, harvesters and tillage implements, complemented by precision agriculture technologies and telematics that support farm management, yield optimization and equipment connectivity.