Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Buys 2,334 Shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,577 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,334 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Corteva were worth $1,856,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Corteva by 267.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,120,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,851,000 after purchasing an additional 815,135 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Corteva during the fourth quarter valued at $1,514,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Corteva by 1.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,523,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,966,000 after purchasing an additional 66,052 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Corteva by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,428,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,031,000 after purchasing an additional 525,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its position in Corteva by 51.9% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 695,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,624,000 after purchasing an additional 237,764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Corteva Trading Down 0.4 %

CTVA stock opened at $60.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.56 billion, a PE ratio of 46.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.79. Corteva, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.01 and a 12 month high of $66.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.66 and its 200 day moving average is $59.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.02). Corteva had a return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 5.36%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Corteva declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, November 19th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Corteva Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Corteva

In other Corteva news, insider Brian Titus sold 26,560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.74, for a total transaction of $1,692,934.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,257.78. This trade represents a 70.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on CTVA. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Corteva from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Corteva to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Corteva from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Corteva from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Corteva from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.79.

Corteva Profile

Corteva, Inc operates in the agriculture business. It operates through two segments, Seed and Crop Protection. The Seed segment develops and supplies advanced germplasm and traits that produce optimum yield for farms. It offers trait technologies that enhance resistance to weather, disease, insects, and herbicides used to control weeds, as well as food and nutritional characteristics.