Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) Short Interest Up 10.6% in September

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,520,000 shares, a growth of 10.6% from the September 15th total of 4,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days. Approximately 2.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Deere & Company

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Deere & Company in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 725.0% in the 1st quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 66 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Deere & Company during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Centennial Bank AR lifted its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 420.0% during the 2nd quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 104 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company by 2,500.0% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 104 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.58% of the company’s stock.

Deere & Company Stock Performance

Shares of DE traded down $5.19 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $404.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,018,761 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,471,922. Deere & Company has a 52-week low of $340.20 and a 52-week high of $420.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $390.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $385.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $111.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.92.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.63 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $11.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.94 billion. Deere & Company had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 36.71%. The business’s revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.20 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Deere & Company will post 25.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.47 per share. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Deere & Company’s payout ratio is 17.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $360.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Raymond James initiated coverage on Deere & Company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Deere & Company from $465.00 to $448.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $450.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Deere & Company from $402.00 to $389.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $420.69.

About Deere & Company

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.