Valmark Advisers Inc. Reduces Holdings in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Valmark Advisers Inc. lowered its stake in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,056 shares of the company’s stock after selling 217 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Corteva were worth $288,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Corteva by 2.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,290,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,015,914,000 after acquiring an additional 768,519 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Corteva by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,703,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,037,505,000 after purchasing an additional 355,206 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Corteva by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 14,788,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $860,746,000 after purchasing an additional 856,007 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P boosted its stake in shares of Corteva by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 14,362,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $844,360,000 after purchasing an additional 200,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Corteva by 1.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,747,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $631,863,000 after buying an additional 203,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Corteva from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BNP Paribas raised Corteva to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. KeyCorp upped 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. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Corteva from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Corteva from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.73.

Corteva Stock Performance

Corteva stock opened at $64.51 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.48 and a 200-day moving average of $58.58. The stock has a market cap of $44.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.78. Corteva, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.01 and a 52 week high of $66.24.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.02). Corteva had a return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 5.36%. On average, analysts expect that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corteva announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, November 19th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.71%.

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.