Short Interest in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Grows By 10.7%

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,000,000 shares, an increase of 10.7% from the March 15th total of 2,710,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Deere & Company

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 104,373.8% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,219,883 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,380,557,000 after buying an additional 3,216,801 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,248,036,000. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in Deere & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $562,442,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 46,241.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 840,627 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $336,142,000 after purchasing an additional 838,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Deere & Company by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,856,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,541,967,000 after purchasing an additional 705,771 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DE. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Deere & Company from $435.00 to $425.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup cut their price target on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Deere & Company from $381.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Deere & Company in a report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $430.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Deere & Company from $445.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $433.28.

Deere & Company Price Performance

DE stock opened at $393.11 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $384.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $382.56. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $345.55 and a 12-month high of $450.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market cap of $109.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.04.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $1.04. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 44.60% and a net margin of 16.38%. The firm had revenue of $10.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Deere & Company will post 27.41 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a $1.47 dividend. This represents a $5.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 17.12%.

Deere & Company Company Profile

Deere & Company engages in the manufacture and distribution of various equipment worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Production and Precision Agriculture, Small Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Production and Precision Agriculture segment provides large and medium tractors, combines, cotton pickers and strippers, sugarcane harvesters and loaders, harvesting front-end equipment, pull-behind scrapers, and tillage and seeding equipment, as well as application equipment, including sprayers and nutrient management, and soil preparation machinery for grain growers.