North Star Asset Management Inc. Buys Shares of 2,877 Corteva, Inc. $CTVA

North Star Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Corteva by 0.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,188,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,976,436,000 after purchasing an additional 373,680 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Corteva by 1.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,047,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,339,651,000 after buying an additional 251,693 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Corteva by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,680,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,317,708,000 after buying an additional 824,451 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its stake in Corteva by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 16,785,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,056,299,000 after acquiring an additional 288,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Corteva by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,759,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $740,041,000 after acquiring an additional 110,865 shares during the period. 81.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CTVA shares. BMO Capital Markets set a $86.00 price objective on Corteva in a research note on Monday, September 15th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Corteva in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Corteva from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Corteva from $85.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Corteva from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Robert D. King sold 37,280 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.20, for a total value of $2,766,176.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 49,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,655,240.40. This represents a 43.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Corteva Price Performance

Shares of CTVA opened at $66.10 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Corteva, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.40 and a 1-year high of $77.41. The stock has a market cap of $44.67 billion, a PE ratio of 28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $64.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.71.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by $0.26. Corteva had a return on equity of 9.37% and a net margin of 9.19%.The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.49) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Corteva Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Corteva’s payout ratio is 30.77%.

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.