Early Assignment of Covered Call Position in Deere & Company

This morning I was notified that the one Deere & Company (ticker DE) January 5th, 2024 $375.00 Call option was exercised yesterday which is the last business day prior to Deere's ex-dividend date.  The stock price increased from its $383.21 purchase price on December 15th to $401.64 at yesterday's market close and the original $4.36 time value in the Calls when the position was established had declined to $0.00.  So the owner of this Deere Call exercised their option to buy the 100 shares at the $375.00 strike price in order to receive today's $1.47 per share ex-dividend.  I am pleased for this early assignment despite losing the opportunity to capture the dividend since the +33.0% annualized-return-on-investment (aroi) achieved by early assignment is greater than the +27.3% aroi that might have been achieved if this position was instead assigned on its Jan. 5th, 2024 options expiration date.   

The post when this Deere & Company Covered Call position was originally established is here.  As detailed below, the return-on-investment result for this John Deere Covered Call position was +1.2% absolute return in 13 days (equivalent to a +33.0% annualized return-on-investment).  

Deere & Company (DE) -- Covered Call Position Closed by Early Assignment
The simultaneous buy/write transaction was as follows:
12/15/2023 Bought 100 shares of John Deere & Co. stock @ $383.21 per share.  
12/15/2023 Sold 1 Deere & Co. January 5th, 2024 $375.00 Call option @ $12.57 per share.
12/28/2023 Deere & Co. Call option owner exercised their Call option, so the Covered Call position was closed out early. The one Deere Call option expired worthless and the 100 shares were sold at the $375.00 strike price.

The overall performance results (including commissions) are as follows:
Covered Call Net Investment: $37,064.67
= ($383.21 - $12.57) * 100 shares + $.67 commission

Net Profit Components:
(a) Call Option Income: +$1,256.33
= ($12.57 * 100 shares) - $.67 commission
(b) Dividend Income (Deere stock assigned on the Dec. 28th ex-dividend date): $0.00
(c) Capital Appreciation (Deere & Co. stock assigned on the Dec. 28th ex-dividend date): -$821.00
= ($375.00 strike price - $383.21 stock purchase price) * 100 shares

Net Profit: +$435.33
= (+$1,256.33 option income +$0.00 dividend income - $821.00 capital appreciation)

Absolute Return-on-Investment: +1.2%
= +$435.33/$37,064.67
Equivalent Annualized Return-on-Investment: +33.0%
= (+$435.33/$37,064.67) * (365/13 days)