Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $587.74 and last traded at $586.12, with a volume of 1101765 shares. The stock had previously closed at $583.11.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DE. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $460.00 target price on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Deere & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $524.20.

Deere & Company Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $497.60 and its 200-day moving average is $484.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.88 billion, a PE ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.02.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 26th. The industrial products company reported $3.93 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by ($0.03). Deere & Company had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.54%. The business had revenue of $12.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.55 earnings per share. Deere & Company’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.01%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John C. May II sold 41,472 shares of Deere & Company stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.49, for a total value of $20,797,793.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 117,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,160,775.30. The trade was a 26.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cory J. Reed sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.00, for a total value of $6,120,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 20,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,603,920. This trade represents a 36.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,578 shares of company stock valued at $32,471,682. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Deere & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $10,514,053,000 after purchasing an additional 198,332 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,386,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,297,913,000 after buying an additional 64,262 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,233,740 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,850,687,000 after buying an additional 322,582 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $2,609,149,000 after buying an additional 17,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,578,243,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

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.