Deere & Company (DE): Hedge Funds Are Bearish and Insiders Are Undecided, What Should You Do?

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) investors: listen up.

In the financial world, there are dozens of gauges market participants can use to track publicly traded companies. Two of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can outclass the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a number of stimuli for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

What’s more, it’s important to analyze the recent info for Deere & Company (NYSE:DE).

Hedge fund activity in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 30 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -9% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Berkshire Hathaway, managed by Warren Buffett, holds the most valuable position in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE). Berkshire Hathaway has a $323.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Mario Gabelli of GAMCO Investors, with a $115.2 million position; the fund has 0.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include David Blood and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Judging by the fact that Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) has witnessed a fall in interest from upper-tier hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of money managers that decided to sell off their entire stakes heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors cut the biggest position of all the hedgies we watch, valued at close to $77.1 million in stock. Tony Chedraoui’s fund, Tyrus Capital, also cut its stock, about $32 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds heading into Q2.

How are insiders trading Deere & Company (NYSE:DE)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Deere & Company (NYSE:DE). These stocks are Terex Corporation (NYSE:TEX), AGCO Corporation (NYSE:AGCO), Joy Global Inc. (NYSE:JOY), CNH Global NV (ADR) (NYSE:CNH), and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT). This group of stocks are in the farm & construction machinery industry and their market caps are closest to DE’s market cap.