Handelsbanken Fonder AB Boosts Stock Holdings in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 30.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 386,028 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 91,163 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Corteva were worth $21,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Corteva by 267.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,120,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,851,000 after buying an additional 815,135 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Corteva during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,514,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 66,052 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Corteva by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,428,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $537,031,000 after buying an additional 525,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Corteva by 51.9% in the fourth 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. 81.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Corteva Trading Down 1.7 %

CTVA opened at $62.75 on Friday. Corteva, Inc. has a one year low of $50.01 and a one year high of $66.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.02 billion, a PE ratio of 48.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $60.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 5.36%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Corteva declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price target on Corteva from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Corteva from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Corteva from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BNP Paribas upgraded Corteva to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Corteva from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.73.

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.