Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) Shares Sold by First Merchants Corp

First Merchants Corp lessened its position in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 96,290 shares of the company’s stock after selling 243 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Corteva were worth $5,485,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CTVA. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Corteva during the 3rd quarter valued at about $99,869,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Corteva by 6.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 14,788,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $860,746,000 after purchasing an additional 856,007 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Corteva by 267.3% in 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 period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Corteva by 2.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,290,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,015,914,000 after buying an additional 768,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Corteva by 176.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 934,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,954,000 after buying an additional 596,073 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CTVA. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Corteva from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp lifted their target price 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. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Corteva from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Corteva from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Corteva from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.73.

Corteva Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE CTVA opened at $62.90 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $43.23 billion, a PE ratio of 48.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.78. Corteva, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.01 and a 52 week high of $66.24.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 EPS 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, equities analysts anticipate that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. Corteva’s payout ratio is 52.71%.

Corteva declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, November 19th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.