Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 16,765 Deere & Company $DE

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 16,765 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,666,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Deere & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,578,243,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Deere & Company by 573.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 842,882 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $428,597,000 after buying an additional 717,808 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Deere & Company by 278.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 487,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $223,005,000 after buying an additional 358,687 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Deere & Company by 50,691.9% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 332,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $168,910,000 after buying an additional 331,525 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in Deere & Company by 5.5% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,233,740 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,850,687,000 after buying an additional 322,582 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Deere & Company news, insider Cory J. Reed sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 20,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,603,920. This represents a 36.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John C. May II sold 41,472 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 117,970 shares in the company, valued at $59,160,775.30. The trade was a 26.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on DE. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Deere & Company from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Deere & Company from $560.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Deere & Company from $467.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $475.00 to $550.00 in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $543.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $644.70.

Deere & Company Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of DE stock opened at $592.69 on Wednesday. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $404.42 and a 12-month high of $674.19. The company has a market capitalization of $160.09 billion, a PE ratio of 33.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $557.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $501.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

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

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors 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 payout ratio is 36.53%.

Deere & 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.