Physicians Financial Services Inc. Sells 200 Shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Physicians Financial Services Inc. reduced its holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,064 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $2,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,352,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,068,404,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782,984 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 27.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,542,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,895,518,000 after buying an additional 988,380 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in Deere & Company by 53,338.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 854,484 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $356,602,000 after acquiring an additional 852,885 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Deere & Company by 46,892.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 772,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $322,218,000 after buying an additional 770,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stockbridge Partners LLC raised its stake in Deere & Company by 157.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 884,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $369,019,000 after buying an additional 540,874 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DE has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Deere & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their price target on Deere & Company from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $546.00 target price (down from $550.00) on shares of Deere & Company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $454.65.

Deere & Company Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of DE stock opened at $496.28 on Friday. Deere & Company has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $515.05. The company has a market capitalization of $135.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The business’s 50 day moving average is $451.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $419.90.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The industrial products company reported $3.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.05. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 27.31% and a net margin of 12.94%. Equities analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.32 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $1.62 dividend. This is a boost from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 28.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Rajesh Kalathur sold 24,580 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.61, for a total value of $12,304,993.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 74,878 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,484,675.58. This trade represents a 24.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Deere & Company Profile

Deere & Co engages in the manufacture and distribution of equipment used in agriculture, construction, forestry, and turf care. It operates through the following segments: Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Agriculture and Turf segment focuses on the distribution and manufacture of a full line of agriculture and turf equipment and related service parts.