The Goldman Sachs Group Begins Coverage on Corteva (NYSE:CTVA)

The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) in a report issued on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $71.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Corteva from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Corteva from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Corteva from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Corteva from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Corteva from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Corteva presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

Corteva Stock Performance

Corteva stock opened at $59.90 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.45. Corteva has a fifty-two week low of $50.01 and a fifty-two week high of $66.24. The company has a market capitalization of $41.06 billion, a PE ratio of 46.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.79.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.02). Corteva had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 7.19%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Corteva will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Corteva Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Corteva’s payout ratio is 52.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Corteva

In other news, insider Brian Titus sold 26,560 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 11,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,257.78. This represents a 70.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Corteva

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Corteva during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Corteva in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Corteva in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in Corteva in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Corteva in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. 81.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.