Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 1,295 Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $518,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Deere & Company by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,089,159 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,920,548,000 after purchasing an additional 65,006 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Deere & Company by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,374,282 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,650,767,000 after purchasing an additional 269,571 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Deere & Company by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,061,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,155,430,000 after purchasing an additional 73,601 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Deere & Company by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,539,699 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $581,052,000 after purchasing an additional 33,946 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd increased its position in Deere & Company by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 1,146,220 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $432,561,000 after purchasing an additional 12,825 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on DE shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $435.00 to $425.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $401.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $433.28.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Shares of DE traded down $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $393.33. The stock had a trading volume of 998,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,243,125. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $387.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $383.61. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $345.55 and a fifty-two week high of $450.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.45, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.04.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $1.04. Deere & Company had a net margin of 16.38% and a return on equity of 44.60%. The firm had revenue of $10.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.55 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 27.37 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th will be issued a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is presently 17.12%.

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.