Aberdeen Group plc Increases Stake in Corteva, Inc. $CTVA

Aberdeen Group plc lifted its stake in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 505,286 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 35,625 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in Corteva were worth $37,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Corteva by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,814,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,022,736,000 after buying an additional 639,799 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Corteva by 1.8% during the first quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 16,785,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,056,299,000 after buying an additional 288,792 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Corteva by 1.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,759,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $740,041,000 after buying an additional 110,865 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Corteva during the first quarter valued at about $640,333,000. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Corteva by 1.4% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,978,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $426,088,000 after acquiring an additional 98,770 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Corteva Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE CTVA opened at $61.90 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $70.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.99. The company has a market cap of $42.04 billion, a PE ratio of 30.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.76. Corteva, Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.40 and a 52-week high of $77.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.26 billion. Corteva had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The business’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corteva Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. This is a positive change from Corteva’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Corteva’s payout ratio is currently 35.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Robert D. King sold 37,280 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.20, for a total transaction of $2,766,176.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 49,262 shares in the company, valued at $3,655,240.40. This represents a 43.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CTVA shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Corteva from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets set a $86.00 price objective on shares of Corteva in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Corteva from $92.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Corteva and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Corteva from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.13.

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.