Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) Position Reduced by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its stake in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,362,661 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300,005 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Corteva were worth $305,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV raised its stake 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 buying an additional 815,135 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Corteva during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,514,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $265,966,000 after purchasing an additional 66,052 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Corteva by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,428,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $537,031,000 after purchasing an additional 525,531 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake 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 and hedge funds own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Corteva

In other news, insider Brian Titus sold 26,560 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 represents a 70.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Corteva from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Corteva from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Corteva from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. BNP Paribas raised Corteva to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Corteva from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.73.

Corteva Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE CTVA opened at $62.65 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Corteva, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.01 and a 1-year high of $66.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.12. The company has a market capitalization of $42.95 billion, a PE ratio of 48.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.78.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.02). Corteva had a return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 5.36%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, November 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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 $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio is 52.71%.

About Corteva

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.