Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Has $509,000 Holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 85 shares during the quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Deere & Company were worth $509,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Centric Wealth Management grew its position in Deere & Company by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 7,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,967,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Deere & Company by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $628,105,000 after buying an additional 31,074 shares during the last quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Deere & Company by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 1,166 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $466,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Deere & Company by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 4,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,723,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,824 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,528,000 after acquiring an additional 3,508 shares in the last quarter. 68.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on DE shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Deere & Company from $435.00 to $425.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Deere & Company from $425.00 to $401.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Deere & Company from $381.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Deere & Company in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $430.00 target price for the company. Finally, Melius Research reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Deere & Company in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Deere & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $433.28.

Deere & Company Price Performance

NYSE DE traded up $3.73 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $405.57. 930,852 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,461,198. Deere & Company has a 1-year low of $345.55 and a 1-year high of $450.00. The company has a market cap of $112.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $393.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $384.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $6.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $10.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.30 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 44.60% and a net margin of 16.38%. The business’s revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 27.37 EPS for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a $1.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $5.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. Deere & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.12%.

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.