Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Deere & Company $DE

Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 13,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,770,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DE. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Deere & Company in the second quarter worth $11,763,504,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Deere & Company by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,485,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,898,717,000 after acquiring an additional 97,049 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,358,264 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 2.1% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 158,584 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Deere & Company by 0.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $640.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $672.00 to $607.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. DA Davidson increased their price target on Deere & Company from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Seaport Research Partners set a $570.00 price target on Deere & Company in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Deere & Company from $680.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.48.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

DE opened at $633.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.19, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average of $610.13 and a 200 day moving average of $592.80. Deere & Company has a fifty-two week low of $433.00 and a fifty-two week high of $674.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 2.10.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The industrial products company reported $5.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.69 by $0.41. Deere & Company had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 18.10%. The company had revenue of $12.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.75 EPS. Deere & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 18.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 36.00%.

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.