Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Cuts Holdings in Deere & Company $DE

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL decreased its stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 116,303 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,225 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $54,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its holdings in Deere & Company by 69.2% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 66 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Watch Advisors INC purchased a new stake in Deere & Company during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Deere & Company from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Deere & Company from $580.00 to $775.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Deere & Company from $460.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Deere & Company from $521.00 to $615.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Deere & Company from $543.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $655.45.

Deere & Company Trading Up 0.1%

DE opened at $562.12 on Monday. Deere & Company has a one year low of $433.00 and a one year high of $674.19. The company has a market cap of $151.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.69, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.21. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $580.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $537.44.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.52. The business 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 business’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 posted $3.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 18.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Deere & Company’s dividend 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.