Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 8,393 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 35% compared to the average daily volume of 6,198 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DE. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 148.3% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,179,000 after acquiring an additional 7,300 shares in the last quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC raised its position in Deere & Company by 157.5% in the third quarter. Stockbridge Partners LLC now owns 884,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $369,019,000 after purchasing an additional 540,874 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 1.5% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 86,952 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,288,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 53.8% during the third quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $23,376,000 after purchasing an additional 2,964 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their target price on Deere & Company from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Deere & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $538.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Deere & Company from $401.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Deere & Company from $470.00 to $430.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $442.83.

Deere & Company Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Deere & Company stock opened at $478.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $340.20 and a 12-month high of $479.48. The company has a market capitalization of $130.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.71, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $436.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $404.80.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The industrial products company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.66. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 31.32% and a net margin of 13.73%. The firm had revenue of $9.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 32.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Deere & Company will post 19.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Deere & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.47. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is currently 25.31%.

Deere & Company 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.