Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Stock Position in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its stake in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,522 shares of the company’s stock after selling 773 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Corteva were worth $2,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CTVA. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Corteva by 47.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 25,758,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,234,359,000 after acquiring an additional 8,260,808 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P lifted its holdings in shares of Corteva by 87.1% during the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 9,011,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $431,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,194,981 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in Corteva by 392.3% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,083,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,274,000 after buying an additional 3,254,126 shares during the last quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Corteva by 116.6% in the 4th quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 4,698,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,163,000 after buying an additional 2,529,539 shares during the period. Finally, Eminence Capital LP lifted its stake in Corteva by 73.1% during the 4th quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 3,796,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,924,000 after acquiring an additional 1,603,058 shares during the period. 81.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Corteva Stock Performance

NYSE CTVA opened at $57.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Corteva, Inc. has a 1-year low of $43.22 and a 1-year high of $58.92. The company has a market cap of $40.13 billion, a PE ratio of 72.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.76.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.15 billion. Corteva had a net margin of 5.31% and a return on equity of 7.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corteva Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. This is a positive change from Corteva’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CTVA. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Corteva in a report on Friday, June 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Corteva in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Corteva from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Argus cut Corteva from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Corteva from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.67.

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.