HighTower Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 165,368 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,654 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Corteva were worth $9,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Corteva during the fourth quarter worth $161,052,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Corteva during the third quarter worth $99,869,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Corteva by 2.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,290,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,015,914,000 after purchasing an additional 768,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Corteva by 176.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 934,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,954,000 after purchasing an additional 596,073 shares during the last quarter. 81.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CTVA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Corteva from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Corteva from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Corteva from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Corteva from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Corteva from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.00.

Insider Activity at Corteva

In related news, insider Brian Titus sold 26,560 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.74, for a total value of $1,692,934.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,347 shares in the company, valued at $723,257.78. This represents a 70.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Corteva Price Performance

Shares of CTVA stock opened at $61.67 on Tuesday. Corteva, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.01 and a fifty-two week high of $66.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.81, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.74.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last issued 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, equities analysts forecast that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.71%.

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

Corteva Company 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.