Lazard Asset Management LLC Trims Stake in Deere & Company $DE

Lazard Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 14.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 168,587 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 28,205 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $94,965,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,583,185 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,514,053,000 after purchasing an additional 198,332 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,485,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,898,717,000 after buying an additional 97,049 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,592,004 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,465,906,000 after buying an additional 3,358,264 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,692,877 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,581,574,000 after buying an additional 158,584 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,600,552 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,609,149,000 after buying an additional 17,269 shares in the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DE. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Deere & Company from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $550.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $580.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Deere & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Deere & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $680.00 price objective (down from $715.00) on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $642.98.

Deere & Company Price Performance

Shares of Deere & Company stock opened at $625.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $168.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $586.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $577.84. Deere & Company has a 52 week low of $433.00 and a 52 week high of $674.19.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 21st. The industrial products company reported $6.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.70 by $0.85. The firm had revenue of $13.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.55 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 18.25% and a net margin of 10.09%.The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 18.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.71%.

About Deere & Company

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.