Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Boosts Holdings in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,701 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 213 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Corteva were worth $211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Corteva by 267.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,120,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,851,000 after purchasing an additional 815,135 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Corteva during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,514,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Corteva by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,523,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,966,000 after acquiring an additional 66,052 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Corteva by 51.9% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 695,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,624,000 after purchasing an additional 237,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Corteva by 755.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 552,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,486,000 after purchasing an additional 488,181 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Corteva from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Corteva from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Corteva from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Corteva from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Corteva from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.31.

Corteva Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CTVA opened at $62.32 on Friday. 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 market cap of $42.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.31, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $60.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.19. Corteva, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.01 and a 52 week high of $66.24.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 7.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Corteva’s payout ratio is 52.71%.

Corteva 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.