Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Acquires New Stake in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 7,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CTVA. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Corteva in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Corteva during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Corteva during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Corteva during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, First Financial Corp IN purchased a new stake in shares of Corteva during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian Titus sold 26,560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.74, for a total transaction of $1,692,934.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,257.78. This trade represents a 70.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on CTVA. BNP Paribas upgraded Corteva to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays increased their target price on Corteva from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp increased their target price on Corteva from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer increased 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. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Corteva has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.79.

Corteva Stock Down 0.5 %

CTVA opened at $60.23 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $41.29 billion, a PE ratio of 46.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Corteva, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.01 and a 52 week high of $66.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.61.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts expect that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.71%.

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.