Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 247 Shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,154 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Corteva were worth $407,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Corteva by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 1,030 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in Corteva by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 29,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after buying an additional 3,449 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Corteva by 11.3% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 29,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,734,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Corteva by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 69,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,066,000 after purchasing an additional 5,426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of Corteva in the third quarter valued at approximately $808,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CTVA has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp raised their target price on Corteva from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Corteva in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $71.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Corteva from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of 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 objective on Corteva from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.00.

Insider Activity at Corteva

In other Corteva news, insider Brian Titus sold 26,560 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,257.78. The trade was a 70.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Corteva Stock Performance

CTVA opened at $61.08 on Monday. Corteva, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.01 and a 52-week high of $66.24. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.72 billion, a PE ratio of 47.35, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.79.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) 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, sell-side analysts expect that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.