Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $73.99 and last traded at $73.74, with a volume of 576185 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $72.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CTVA shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Corteva from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Corteva from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Argus raised shares of Corteva from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Corteva from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Corteva in a report on Friday, June 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Corteva currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.92.

Corteva Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $50.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.56 billion. Corteva had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 6.77%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. Analysts expect that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Corteva

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CTVA. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Corteva by 2,874.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,812,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $729,780,000 after purchasing an additional 12,381,436 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Corteva in the first quarter worth $640,333,000. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its position in Corteva by 51.5% during the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 16,496,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $939,641,000 after buying an additional 5,604,838 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Corteva during the fourth quarter valued at about $251,892,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Corteva in the fourth quarter worth about $161,052,000. Institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

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.