Deere & Co. attracted some heavy option trading on Thursday, as more than 32,500 contracts changed hands on the stock. This volume is more than double the security's average daily trading volume of 15,465 contracts. What's more, roughly 66% of the volume changed hands on the put side.

Overall, options players have recently exhibited a preference for the stock's puts. The International Securities Exchange (ISE) reported that more than one put has been purchased for every call during the past 10 trading sessions. This 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.05 is higher than 62% of all those taken during the past year, indicating that pessimism is on the rise among options players.

What's more, the Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio for DE stands at 2.02, as put open interest more than doubles call open interest among options slated to expire in less than three months. This reading is higher than 97% of all those taken during the past year. In other words, short-term options players have been more skeptical of the shares only 3% of the time during the past 12 months.

Wall Street also has its doubts about the firm. The stock has earned six "buy" ratings and nine "holds," according to Zacks, leaving ample room for potential upgrades.

Technically speaking, the shares are down nearly 7% on a year-to-date basis. Since once again being rejected by resistance at the 48 level, the stock has been guided lower by its 10-day and 20-day moving averages.